


The Space Between Us

by So_Ginelle



Series: The IwaOi Experience [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe - Children, Angst, Both Iwaizumi's and Oikawa's parents are abusive, Child Abuse, Friends to Lovers, Harm to Children, I am so sorry, It is super triggering, It's going to be a long fic and a lot of it is going to have abuse in it, Little Toy Guns, M/M, Rape, This is probably one of the worst ideas I've had, Triggers, do not read if you are triggered by child abuse, loosely based on a Carrie Underwood Song, message me if you have questions, this is an extremely triggering fic, triggering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-10-10
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:33:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 76,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14464089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/So_Ginelle/pseuds/So_Ginelle
Summary: Oikawa and Iwaizumi are next-door neighbors. Not that either of them are allowed to have friends, but they are neighbors nonetheless. They don't become neighbors by mistake, as both sets of parents were looking for the perfect neighbors. The perfect neighbors weren't nosy and they didn't come knocking or send the cops when they heard screams from the other apartment, particularly if it is a child screaming. Both Hajime's and Tooru's parents are very abusive to their offspring and both kids notice this. They find a way to communicate, even though they aren't allowed to talk to other children due to rules set by their parents. They grow up in hell together and find a way to become best friends.





	1. Age Nine

“Hajime! Come on already, we’re going to be late. I don’t want to explain to the head master that we were late because you were taking too long with your outfit.”

There was a tension in the air, but Iwaizumi knew better than to react to it. He knew that he would have to ignore it until he forgot about it and they went to school. Iwaizumi was accustomed to being yelled at and told he was unimportant anyway. He also knew it was important for him to go to a private school, one that wasn’t in their town. That was why his mother was yelling at him to hurry up.

Iwaizumi finished getting dressed and he ran a hand through his hair to make sure it was decent enough before he went down the stairs and he waited patiently for his mom. “There you are, finally. I’m just finishing up this email and then I will be outside. Go wait by the car. Oh, and if you screw up this interview, your father won’t be happy with you,” his mother said and Iwaizumi made a face before he went back to his fake smile.

The mother and son were headed to an interview with yet another private school. His parents preferred him to go to private schools, because they could get away with a little more as far as punishing their child that way. They also liked it because they watched him at school until he was picked up and released, so he couldn’t just leave the school whenever he wanted and try to go home. It was too far for him to try to walk.

It took another two minutes for his mother to finish up her email before she got up and looked at Iwaizumi, who was picking at his sweater vest. “Stop picking at it! You’ll put a hole in this one and I don’t want to have to buy you another one. You’d have to wear that one with a hole in it.”

He waited a second too long to drop his hand apparently, because his mother reached to grab his wrist and she pulled it up so high that he had to stand on his toes because of how far she was pulling it up. “Did you hear what I said? Don’t make me get the whip, boy. We haven’t unpacked it yet, but maybe I’ll have to go find it.” 

Iwaizumi didn’t make a sound and he just stared at her with wide eyes. He shook his head and he opened his mouth to speak. “May I speak?” he asked and she nodded as she dropped his wrist. He stumbled for just a moment before he stood still and looked up at his mother again. “I promise to stop picking at it. It’s just a little itchy, that’s all. That’s the only reason I was picking it,” Iwaizumi said in a voice that he tried his best to make sound confident and strong, but still submissive at the same time. That was what his mother liked to hear from him.

While his mother wasn’t usually forgiving in the slightest, she sighed and shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. If we’re late, it’s still on you, because you took forever to get dressed and you decided to pick at the vest.”

There was no point in arguing and Iwaizumi knew it would end with him sent back to his room anyway and getting blamed for missing the appointment. He didn’t want to have to explain to his father that he missed the appointment because of the reasons his mother had said. Iwaizumi bowed his head until she walked away and he slowly went to go grab his jacket before his mother groaned and shook her head. “No jacket. You’ll get your outfit all wrinkly,” she said as she pulled on her sweater.

Iwaizumi knew it was going to be cold today, but he didn’t want to cause any other kind of issues with his mom before going off to school. “Sorry, I guess I didn’t think of that,” he said quietly and his mother let out a laugh that was full of pity. He must have said something wrong to get that kind of reaction, but Iwaizumi was already prepared for this.

“For one? Stop your mumbling. People can’t hear you when you talk so quietly. Two, that’s one of the things wrong with you. You just don’t think about your actions. Get it together.” His mother pulled open the front door and she slammed it before he could even walk outside. But Iwaizumi waited for about ten seconds before he decided it was safe to open the door himself and walk out. “God, you’re taking forever today! I’m going to go grab the mail. Go wait by the car,” his mother said as she rolled her eyes.

Iwaizumi walked slowly to the car, trying to avoid the puddles on the sidewalk so he wouldn’t get the bottom of his pants wet or splash anything onto his clothes. He was more focused on the ground, so he didn’t see anything in front of him at the time. Usually, he was more aware of his surroundings just so he wouldn’t get into any kind of trouble. But he just wasn’t thinking that morning and he felt something slam into his side, knocking him off his feet and onto the sidewalk. He was lucky not to land in the puddle, but he still dirtied up his outfit a little.

“Huh…? Oh! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going! Are you okay?” said a boy that looked to be about his age. He had a head of hair that made Iwaizumi a little jealous, and he was wearing regular street clothing that Iwaizumi wished he was wearing at the moment. “I’m so sorry. Here, let me help you up.” The kid was holding a bag, so he only had one hand and Iwaizumi didn’t want to knock the boy over or pull him down, so he stood up on his own.

Iwaizumi nodded to him, looking over at his mother, who was still by the mailbox and paying absolutely no attention to him. “It’s okay. I’m fine, I just hope I didn’t dirty my clothes any,” Iwaizumi said, loud enough for the other boy to hear but not loud enough for his mother to hear him talking to someone else. He knew his mom would be upset at him for talking to anyone that had no purpose. “I’m Hajime. We only moved in here a few weeks ago. Have you been here long?”

There was a bit of hesitation on the other boy’s face and he shook his head. “No, we’ve only been here for about a month. I’m Tooru, by the way. Tooru Oikawa. I’d say I’ll see you around, but I don’t go to public school and my parents want me to focus on my school work. I have a lot of it. But maybe I’ll get to see you again?”

The only sounds that could be heard were the light rustling of the wind in the trees and the birds that were chirping away. Hajime didn’t know what to say to his new neighbor. What was he supposed to say? That he wasn’t allowed out of his house? That he rarely talked to the neighboring kids because his parents didn’t like him to? He didn’t think that would go over so well, so he just shrugged. “Maybe. Have a good day,” Iwaizumi said as he stepped towards his mother’s car. It took her about a minute to finish up at the mailbox before she came to the car and unlocked it.

His mother scoffed when he took three seconds too long to get into the car and she nearly started driving before he had his seatbelt fastened. It wouldn’t have been the first time that he rode in her car without wearing his seatbelt, but Hajime liked to be a little more cautious. The car ride was very quiet and it took about fifteen minutes for his mother to turn on the radio. Of course, that was only so she couldn’t hear him breathing and she had turned on classical music, which Hajime really couldn’t stand. But he sat there and stared out the window, picturing a life where he was just an ordinary kid with loving, supportive parents.

The car finally stopped in the parking lot to his new school, hopefully, and Hajime unbuckled his seatbelt before he looked to his mother. “May I get out of the car?” he asked quietly and she turned her head and made a face.

His mother was clearly not in a very good mood. “What did I tell you about mumbling? I think you and your father are going to have a talk about that soon. I have a feeling that you won’t like it when he has to bring out his belt. It will be the first belting of our new home. That’s something to look forward to,” she said with a smile on her face. Hajime had to try not to cringe and he did his best not to look disappointed in himself. He didn’t want to look disappointed at all, because his mother would tell him to just start acting like a man.

Hajime looked out the window to be sure that he was safe to get out of the car and he then went to open the door, which had been locked. It was child locked too, so he couldn’t unlock it himself. “Mom? Could you please unlock the door so I can get out of the car?” he asked and his mother sighed.

“I suppose you have to, since you’re the one with the interview.” His mother unlocked the door then and Hajime got out of the car very quickly. He didn’t get out of the car so quickly that he would have fallen or rip his outfit, but he did so in a speedy manner so his mother wouldn’t get upset at him for taking too much time.

Hajime shut the door to his mother’s car and stood on the sidewalk to wait for her. She grabbed his hand and tugged him off to the front gate of the school. “Don’t screw up your interview. Remember what we always tell you. And if you do mess this up? You’ll definitely be getting a beating tonight.” His mother walked through the gate and let go of Iwaizumi’s hand. Hajime had to catch up, but he did finally reach her. He didn’t need to get yelled at anymore. Although, he knew his parents were both hesitant about yelling at him in front of other people. He knew they would usually wait until they got him home so they could take it out on them.

The pair were let into the building and they ended up going directly to the dean’s office. He was the man performing the interview, after all. Hajime straightened up and he kept his eyes forward. All of the kids were giving him strange looks, but he knew that if he looked to them, his mother would definitely have a fit when they got back to the car.

Once they reached the dean’s office, his mother took a seat and Hajime waited outside of the office but he didn’t take a seat. He knew his mother would get angry at him and tell him not to get his outfit wrinkly. He would have to iron it again anyway, but he didn’t want to get her more upset. So he stayed standing and he kept his eyes forward. 

The office door opened after less than a minute and Hajime tried not to look towards the office door, but he couldn’t help himself. He watched as another man exited the office but he kept his eyes on the door. “You must be Iwaizumi Hajime. I’m guessing you are his mother?” The man asked as he turned his eyes towards Hajime’s mother.

“Why yes. Hajime is interviewing with the school today and we are hoping that you will allow him to attend your lovely school.”

Hajime offered his hand out to the dean and the man shook his hand. His mother nodded her head and stood up slowly. “Did you receive the file from my first private school? They told us they were sending my marks over,” Hajime asked and the dean smiled.

“You are very professional, Hajime. But yes, they did send your transcript and your school file. Let’s go over these things in my office. Come on in,” the Dean said and Hajime offered his mother to go first. She took the opportunity and she walked in, walking in a calm and professional manner. Hajime followed in after her and he waited for the Dean to ask him to sit down.

The dean walked to the desk and he cleared his throat. “My name is professor Riku, by the way. You can call me by that name,” he said as he took a seat at his desk. “Please, have a seat in those chairs there. We can get started with the interview.”

Hajime was thankful that the man asked them to sit. His mother would have sat down once he did, but Hajime wasn’t allowed to sit until someone asked him to sit. He knew the rules at this point. He went to take a seat and he straightened his outfit out before looking back up to the dean. “Your transcript really is very good, Hajime. Near perfect marks in everything, only three absences since starting school, and it says you stayed late to help teachers with their work after class. You participated in a few school activities too. I am beyond impressed. Now I do want to know why you want to attend this school, as you seem to have quite a distance to drive.”

Hajime knew the real reason he wanted to attend this school. Or, really, he didn’t actually want to come to this school. His parents were forcing him for multiple reasons. “I really like the atmosphere and I enjoy the list of school activities you have. Those things are all activities I would like to try one day. This school also sends many students to the middle school I want to attend one day,” Hajime said and professor Riku smiled to him.

“Very good, Hajime. Now, Mrs. Iwaizumi, can I ask what your reasons are for driving the distance to our school and not pick a school closer to you?” Hajime tensed but he held his composure. He knew his mother would lie her ass off.

His mother smiled and hummed quietly. “As Hajime said, this school sends many students off to the middle school we want him to go to. We’ve been meaning to move closer, but we just can’t find a place at the moment and the place we found was honestly the closest we could get within our budget.” His parents did want him to go to a specific middle school so he had a chance to go to the highschool they wanted him to go to. “We don’t mind making the drive though. This is for our son after all. He means everything to us.”

What a lie. Hajime smiled and tried not to laugh. He knew laughing would get him in trouble. But he also knew that he didn’t mean more than dirt to his parents. His parents wanted him to go to that specific middle school because the teachers there were very strict and they were more lenient about physical punishments. Other schools generally didn’t approve of parents hitting their kids, but the middle school he was lined up to go to did condone physical violence and wouldn’t ask questions if Hajime came into school with bruises or a few scrapes.

“Well, with his grades and his willingness to help out, I see no issues with him attending school here, as long as you can promise that he will be to school on time and there won’t be excuses related to the commute,” the dean said and his mother smiled. Hajime knew there would have to be a few because his mother would make them late every so often, but Hajime would just role with it. “Let’s get the paperwork for you and I will have an assistant show Hajime to a testing room so he can test into one of the classes. With these grades though, I am guessing that he will be in our higher class. He does seem to be very bright.”

Hajime was never allowed to be dim or dumb with anything he did. He had to study as hard as he could at school and he was sometimes allowed to do school work at home when his parents didn’t want him to do other things. He was usually cleaning the living room or dining room. If he wasn’t doing those things, he was folding laundry or washing the dishes. 

Usually he was doing house work, but they occasionally left him alone to study, which he was thankful for. If he didn’t have the grades he did, they would freak out. He remembered the one time he got a B on a test and his dad beat him senseless. He came to school wearing bandages and he had to tell everyone that the dog their neighbor had attacked him. The school got suspicious and started asking him questions and he warned his parents, which was why they were looking for a new school. That was why he was testing into a class right now.

It took a couple minutes for the assistant to get to the dean’s office and she smiled. “Okay Hajime, I can take you to get your testing done,” she said. Hajime got up from his chair and he followed after her. He knew the dean had to discuss tuition and other things with his mother but he really wished that he could just go to a local school so his parents wouldn’t have to pay for him to attend school. “Are you excited to attend school here?”

Hajime nodded and took a breath. “It will be better than my other school and it will make my parents happy to have me go here,” Hajime said. He knew he couldn’t screw up this interview and he would say or do just about anything so he could come to this school. “The atmosphere seems better and if my parents are happy, I’m happy.” That statement actually had some truth to it. If his parents were happy, they were less likely to hit him or abuse him. 

The assistant took Hajime to a room and had him take a seat at a desk. There was no one in the room and Hajime looked towards the large windows. He wished that he could get out somehow, but that was just a dream. He knew there was no way out for him, at least until he got older or someone actually caught his parents. He had tried to tell someone once, when he had gotten a bad beating at home, but his parents denied it and they blamed someone else that Hajime didn’t remember. That was at his other school and it was part of the reason they became suspicious when he came to school with bruises. But Hajime wouldn’t talk and they were gone within a few days anyway.

After the assistant set Hajime’s test down, she gave him the instructions and he began. The test wasn’t at all difficult and Hajime breezed right through it. It only took him about fifteen minutes, when usually kids his age would take an hour or so to do it. Hajime was then given an additional set of questions which were more difficult. There were less questions, but it took him about a half hour to finish those questions. 

The assistant looked his tests over and she smiled. “I’ll have to sit and grade them officially, but looking them over now? It looks like you did nearly everything perfectly. I’ll take you back down to the dean’s office and I’ll come back and get these graded. We’ll know what class you’ll be in by the hour,” she said and Hajime smiled, moving to stand up.

“Thank you, miss. I do appreciate this. What was the second exam for?” he asked, just so he could answer his mother when she asked what took him so long.

The assistant hummed and she smiled. “That test is what we give our students that are entering middle school so we can grade them and send them off to our middle school. That test just showed me that you are really smart and know far more than what you are required to know.” The two of them headed back down towards the dean’s office and they entered the room. 

“He did remarkably well. I hope you don’t mind, but I tested his knowledge a little further by giving him a test for students entering middle school. He seemed to do very well on that test as well. I’ll be back with the test grades momentarily,” the assistant said as she excused herself and Hajime went to go stand by his mother’s chair.

Professor Riku smiled to Hajime and Hajime smiled in return, only breaking eye contact when his mother cleared her throat. “I’m glad that part of the day is done and over with. When she finishes the grading, will he go straight to a classroom? Or does he have to go home for the rest of the day?” Hajime’s mother asked and Hajime went to sit down so he wasn’t being rude. 

The answer Hajime was hoping for was for him to stay here, but the dean sighed and he shook his head. “Unfortunately, we are not prepared for him to attend today. We will get his supplies and uniform around. He will have to be measured and fitted for a uniform today before you two leave and the uniforms will be ready for you tomorrow when you arrive. We will know what class he is in today, which we need to know before he gets fitted for a uniform. If you would rather leave him here, I am sure we can find something for Hajime to do. But he won’t be in a classroom learning today,” the dean said and Hajime had internally sighed, nearly sobbing. It wasn’t audible, but he was sad to hear that.

“That’s fine. We have a few things to get settled at home. The school day starts at 8:30, correct?” Mrs. Iwaizumi asked and the dean nodded, clearing his throat.

“Yes, ma’am. The school day starts at 8:30. Hajime is expected to be here by 8:15 though, so he can get signed in and accounted for before homeroom starts. Generally, students at our school are very serious about attendance and only in certain cases does the student walk in at 8:30.” Hajime was getting tired just hearing about this. That meant that he would have to leave the house by 7:30 if he wanted to be on time. His mother was a terrible driver and his father wasn’t any better. That also meant that he had to get up by six every morning to make their breakfast, do the chores that his dad wanted him to do, and then get ready himself.

“I will make sure he is here by 8:15 to 8:20 every day,” his mother said and they sat in silence for a few moments before the dean stood and excused himself into the hall, talking on his phone.

Hajime shifted on his feet and he went to scratch at his side, but his mother grabbed his hand. “I just have an itch, I’m not going to pick at the sweater again,” Hajime said and he knew better than to try to pull his hand away normally, but he tried and his mother actually let his hand go.

It took a few moments for his mother to say anything, but when she had spoken up, she leaned down close. “Don’t you try to pull your hand away from me again, young man. If you do, you will get the belt and I will be the one to do it. Your father will be the one holding you down and I will be the one doing the beating. I think you know that your father sometimes goes easy on you.” When Hajime heard those things from his mother’s mouth, he shivered and he nodded. He was a bit ashamed, but Hajime knew that he was in the wrong here.

The pair of them sat in silence for a few minutes before the door opened to the office again and Hajime was hoping for some good news. The assistant walked in with the dean following her and he went to sit at the desk while the assistant just settled the scores down in front of him. Hajime could feel himself shaking a bit. He didn’t want his mother to have more reasons to beat him today, so he was just hoping that the test results were good.

“Your test results were excellent, Hajime. Everything was perfect on the initial test, telling me that you’d be best off in the A class. The second test, there were only a few minor mistakes, so I graded it and you received an excellent grade still. It was an A level result.” Hajime sighed internally, but he smiled to the assistant and the dean without giving an indication that he had been disappointed in himself.

Once the chatting was over with, his mother hummed and looked down at Hajime. “I’m proud of you for studying so hard. Just a little harder and you’ll probably advance a grade. Don’t you think?” she asked as she looked at professor Riku.

Professor Riku nodded and looked over to the assistant. “It’s not uncommon to advance grades here, although our professors are very strict and the courses are vigorous. So he may advance, but that will only happen if he works hard and impresses his professors.” Hajime wanted to impress his professors, but he also didn’t want to advance so far that he was done with school before he could legally leave home. He wasn’t sure his parents would even let him leave home. He knew they would have to let him eventually, but he just wasn’t ready to be trapped there.

“I’m sure he will. Okay, so what’s the next step? Getting measured?” His mother apparently really wanted to get home. Hajime didn’t want to know why she wanted to get home, but he knew it couldn’t be a good reason.

The dean nodded and the assistant excused herself, probably to go assist in a classroom or something. That was what Hajime assumed, anyway. The dean took them to get Hajime measured so they could get his school uniform created and then send them on their way. It didn’t take long to get measured, which Hajime was bummed about, but they were off to go home.

On the way back out to the car, Hajime felt his mother grab his wrist and drag him towards a tree. “You didn’t get a perfect score on that test. You know what that means, don’t you?” his mother asked and Hajime winced. He was glad that no one around to see this, because he would have been too embarrassed to try to explain to them. Sometimes, he had his priorities messed up and he really should have wished for someone to be around to see how his mother was treated him. But at this rate, he knew that there was no way out and he just wanted to hide the fact that his parents abused him so he didn’t have to explain all of it.

“I do. Can it happen at home though? I don’t want anyone to see this,” Hajime said and he winced his face away, hoping she would take pity on him. But apparently, his mother really didn’t care. She raised her hand and she slapped Hajime right across the face, getting him to stumble and try to pull away. He knew trying to pull away was a mistake, but it was just a natural reflex. He really just wanted this to all be over with. 

His mother laughed as she let her hand go and he had been pulling at that moment, so he had fallen to the ground. “Your father is going to be home when we get there. He’ll want you to do yard work. Get used to being in the dirt,” his mother said. This was just a mess and Hajime really wanted to go home and lay down. He knew that wasn’t going to be a possibility, but he could dream and pray.

Hajime stood back up and blinked the tears out of his eyes that had gathered there in the heat of being pushed around. He thought to himself that he was already used to being in the dirt, but that was something figurative. He wasn’t used to actually being down in the grass and tending to it. All he meant was that he was used to being the low man on the totem pole. He was used to being pushed into doing the dirty and grimy work when neither of his parents wanted to do it.

They went back to the car and Hajime had to wait for his mother to unlock his door. She nearly didn’t, but she finally let him get into the car. She didn’t bother waiting for him to get his seatbelt on this time, but he got it on as she was pulling onto the street. She turned on music and Hajime looked towards the window again, just wishing he could get away again. He wanted this to all be a nightmare that he would wake up from, but he knew that would never happen. His dreams were time for him to escape reality. He never really had a nightmare, as he was already living in the worst possible reality.

It took a while for them to get home and Hajime had to wait for his mother to unlock the car door again, but he waited for her to do so and he finally got out of the vehicle. Hajime felt a chill go through him when he saw his father standing on the porch. His mom went straight to him and she was obviously telling him about what had happened at the school. “Hajime!” his father yelled and he flinched, walking towards him and bowing his head. His head was pulled upwards by his hair and he gasped, trying not to yell out. “What is this I hear about not getting a perfect score on that exam? You are in for it today. We’re going to weed the entire yard. By ‘we’ though, I mean you.”

Hajime nodded and he cleared his throat. “Could I change, maybe? I don’t want to get these nice clothes messy and would like to be in something that could get stained up and dirty. Of course, I don’t intend on trying to get dirty, but I am trying to be cautious of the possibility,” Hajime asked and he looked up to his father. His father was a man that stood to be six feet and two inches, so he towered over him and his mother. His mother was only five feet and six inches. He knew that he had growing to do still, but he knew he wouldn’t be as tall as his dad.

It took his father some thinking and he sighed, looking over Hajime and nodding slowly. “You can change your clothes. Go ahead. You’ll have to do laundry tonight anyway,” his father said and Hajime nodded, going towards the house and heading to his room to quickly get changed.

Whilst in his room, Hajime heard what he thought was crying from the other apartment and he stopped for a moment to listen. The crying sounded like Hajime assumed he sounded like when he was in pain. That was concerning, but Hajime really didn’t have time to listen to this. Nor did he really have time to care. “But mom, I didn’t do it! The dog did, I promise! I was just studying in here!” the voice said and it went back to crying.

Again, it became a bit more concerning when he heard the voice nearly scream. He heard a softer voice, but he couldn’t quite hear what they were saying. Hajime started to get changed, but he stood next to the wall while he did so, just so he could listen to what was going on. “I’ll clean it up, I will! Please, let me clean it up and stop using your energy on the belt.” Hajime winced and he sighed, thinking that there was some other kid out there that had it as bad as he did. He was used to getting the belt, but he didn’t want someone else to get hit like this. He never thought that anyone out there would be treated so cruelly like he was. It made Hajime feel not as alone, but it also made him feel badly for anyone that had to suffer like he does.

Hajime finished changing and he knew it had taken him longer than either of his parents would like, since he was listening to the sounds from the other apartment, but he was in for it. He knew that he would be punished for taking too long and he was cursing himself for that. It only took Hajime five minutes, but he knew that was three minutes too long for either of his parents. He went down the stairs and he went back to the front door. His father was sitting on the porch chair and he walked cautiously. “Okay, sir. Where should I start?” Hajime asked and he stepped cautiously. He didn’t want to be grabbed, so he kept his distance.

His dad looked up and gave him a look. “Start here by the steps. Then move your way out to the street. Be a good kid and weed our neighbor’s yard, too. We weren’t asked too, but I’ll just tell them that you were kind enough to do the work for them.” His father leaned forward and he flashed Hajime a grin. “Don’t think you’ll get out of the beating either. I heard about you picking at your vest and the mumbling this morning, so you’ll learn to stop mumbling and picking at your clothing by taking the belt.” 

Hajime felt a shiver work its way up his spine and he sighed internally. He wished he didn’t have to live this life, but it was just his luck to end up born in a family that used him as a slave and didn’t care about his well-being. It didn’t take him more than two seconds to start walking to the stairs and he started to pull all of the weeds out of the yard. He noticed that there weren’t many weeds in his neighbor’s yard. That made him thankful, until he realized that the other kid probably had to do this too and he shuttered just thinking about Tooru having to do the same kinds of things he had to do.

After ten minutes or so, Hajime was moving towards the street and nearly done with half of the yard. He yawned and kept moving, trying not to get his sweatpants too dirty. He knew he would have to wash them anyway, but he didn’t want to get them any messier than he had to and get his father more upset.

When Hajime had finished with half of the yard, he turned around to see that his dad was only a foot away from him and standing up, hovering over him. Hajime stood up, still holding the weeds and bowed his head to show respect. “You know, I didn’t say to stop. You’re just screwing up so much lately, aren’t you? How about you take a break and go throw those weeds into the trash. But try not to drop any? If you let one stay in the yard, it will become fertilizer and more will grow. So go on,” his father said and Hajime tried to step around his dad to go throw the weeds into the outside trash, but his father stepped in front of him. Hajime ended up running into his father and he stumbled backwards, nearly falling. “Well hey, get going! Also, stop running into me, would you? I don’t want to get dirt and grime all over my work clothes.”

Hajime tried his hardest to step around his father and he was successful the second time, but his father ended up holding onto the back of his neck and crouching down next to him. “If you run into me again while you’re all dirty, you won’t be getting dinner.” That was when Mr. Iwaizumi pushed his son down into the dirt and made him drop half of the weeds so he could catch himself. He scurried to pick them up though and he ran to the outdoor trash can.

Tooru was watching this from the living room while his mother was busy grading his test. He knew he did a good job on the test, otherwise his mother would be yelling from the table and telling him to redo it. He may have made a mistake or two, but it wasn’t enough to warrant her yelling. Tooru was pouting as he watched Hajime and he rubbed as his back, where he had gotten fresh new red marks to match his other scars.

This just wasn’t right. Tooru never really thought that other parents could be this mean to their kids, but he was apparently wrong. He had a notion from watching doctor’s waiting room movies that showed parents being nice to their kids. Maybe that was all make believe too, though. Maybe there was no such thing as a nice parent. Tooru would never treat a child like this, but he would just have to live with it.

“Okay, your test was good enough. You got an A. You missed a few things but I guess that’s what studying is for. Now go start dinner, and don’t you dare burn the meat tonight,” his mother said. Tooru grimaced as he watched Hajime getting pulled away from the trash can and pulled back out to the yard, then pushed back down into the grass to start weeding. Oikawa had just done it a few days ago. He may have missed a few, but he felt bad for Hajime to have to pull the ones he missed. Tooru sighed and walked away from the window to go start dinner. He just wished there was something he could do. But that would have to wait for a while, at least until he started dinner.

There really was nothing that he could do, but he could only dream that Hajime would somehow get out of this nightmare.


	2. Age Ten

The night was nearly over and Tooru had hardly slept. He had tossed and turned in his bed all night, just thinking things over and really making things much worse than they needed to be. What he had been thinking about was how learning was going to change in the next couple of hours.

He knew that the next level of schooling was going to be more difficult, but how much more so was it really going to be? He was already reading at a level that the kids his age wouldn’t dream of, he was doing math problems hard enough that fifteen year olds would struggle with, and he had already done lab experiments that he wasn’t sure he should really be doing at home, but his mother forced them upon him. He was just afraid that his mom would push him harder than necessary and she would expect so much more from him now that he was a year older.

There was noise coming from the room next to his and all he could think about in that moment was Hajime, his kid next door neighbor. The brunet had watched Hajime get knocked around by his father last night when they had gotten out of their car. Tooru was really curious about what they were doing, since Hajime had to wear his school uniform and his parents were allowed to wear dressed down clothing. But Tooru wasn’t focused on where they had been coming from as much as what Hajime’s dad had done to the boy, because it really did look painful.

Tooru rolled over and he frowned, looking at the wall that was keeping him away from Hajime, but it was the wall that was connecting them, too. “I hope you’re okay,” Tooru murmured as he reached out and tried to touch the wall, imagining Hajime doing the same thing. He really did wish for Hajime to be okay. That was all Tooru really wanted. Well, that wasn’t true, but it was true in the moment to a point.

There were more sounds coming from the wall that Tooru guessed was talking of some sort, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. Why couldn’t they just have walkie-talkies or something to communicate with? He just wanted the sweet boy to be okay and there was no way he was okay physically if his dad had been pushing him around that way.

What was he thinking? Why was Tooru so focused on Hajime when he really needed to be focused on his own things? He was used to being tired and he knew he could fake his way through the lessons his mom gave him, but he honestly needed to be focused on trying to sleep so he could at least give his best. His mom would continue to be disappointed in him anyway, but Tooru would give it his best try.

Tooru began to drift off to sleep, but that was when he saw a light flicker and he frowned as he looked towards the light. It wasn’t a bright light, nor was it coming from his room. It was a light coming from his wall, though, and Tooru slowly stood up and got off the bed, being careful to avoid the creaky floorboard so his parents wouldn’t wake up. Tooru went towards the light and he slowly peeked through it. What was this?

That was when Tooru flinched because he was looking through his wall and he just witnessed Hajime getting dragged by his hair out of bed. Wow, that looked painful. Tooru was used to his parents abusing him, but they were more of the verbal abuse and punish later types. He would get pushed around and they would hurt him when he did something wrong, but Tooru noticed that Hajime’s parents were more of the hands on abusive types.

Tooru heard the door slam in Hajime’s room and Hajime was still there, just rubbing his eyes and head while he went to his closet, it seemed. This was a time that Hajime wished that he could do something. He desperately wished there was just something that he could do about his parents. He wished he could reach out to someone, or he could find a way for all of this to stop. But he couldn’t. Hajime’s parents were upset with him for misspelling a word last night at the school spelling bee. Even though the other kids had no idea how to spell it either, he was still getting punished for just not knowing apparently. 

Hajime had no school today due to some parent teacher conferences that his dad would attend at the end of the day and he wouldn’t be allowed to go to. His mother was allowing him to rest, even though she had just forced him to get up. Hajime knew that he was only being allowed to rest because his mom had things to do and Hajime knew that he wouldn’t really be allowed to rest once she was done with whatever it was she did all day. According to her, it was a job, but Hajime really didn’t believe that.

Once he had picked out his clothes, he went back to his bed and sighed. How was he this unlucky? Why couldn’t he have been dealt a different hand in life? By now, he had seen that Tooru’s parents were just as cruel to Tooru as Hajime’s parents were to Hajime, but why did they have to go through this? Why couldn’t they have lived different lives? It would make things so much easier.

Hajime was nearly about to lay back in his bed before he realized he still needed to change and he would probably clean his room again so his mother could begin her forgiveness phase. He looked at the wall for a moment before he began getting dressed. There was something peculiar about the wall at the moment that Hajime really couldn’t put his finger on. Was that a hole? But why was it there? And why was there something pushing out through the wall and now just stuck there? Hajime had finished getting dressed before he slowly went to the wall and looked at the object. It was paper, but where did it come from?

Hajime had slowly pulled the paper through and he licked his lips, going to read the note that was there. He may have not been meant to see it, but he was just curious and he wanted to know. 

_Hey, so I hope you are okay from yesterday. I saw what your dad was doing and it really didn’t look pleasant. I get beat too, but your parents are worse than mine on a physical level at least. And getting dragged out of bed like that? I really am sorry. This is Tooru, by the way._

Hajime hummed and went to think. For one, he would have to use this paper or hide it somewhere. He really wanted to keep it though. If it came down to it, he would probably just toss it away, since he was the one that took the trash to the dumpster at the end of the block. But the other thing going through his mind was opportunity. Tooru was giving him an opportunity to try to make some sort of relation with someone his own age. This was exciting and also a bit terrifying.

When Hajime stood up, he did so quietly and he went to go grab paper and a pencil from his desk. He then started to write. He didn’t know what to say, so he really just started to ramble.

_Hi again, Tooru. Yeah, he was mad last night. I’m used to it, but I’m really sore today. I guess that’s what I get for missing a word at the spelling-bee. I still got the most points for my class, but that’s not good enough for my dad even though no one else knew how to spell the word. But yes, my parents would rather hit me first than scream at me and punish me later. How are you though? I saw your dad got mad at you about something with your shoes and I just want to know that you are okay. What was he mad about anyway? Did you get a hole in them or something? Or were they just not clean to his standards? -Hajime._

Hajime had finished writing and he looked, realizing his note was a bit longer than Tooru’s was. It was nearly double the length, actually. He grimaced a little before he decided that it didn’t really matter and he went back to the hole in the wall to push his own letter through. The hole was a decent size and he wondered how long it would take his parents to realize there was a hole there. He wondered if they would try to cover it, but he tried not to think about it. This was his chance to make a friend or to at least communicate with someone his own age, and he really didn’t want it to be taken away for any reason. He would have to just pretend as if things were okay from now on. He would have to go to acting normal around his parents so they didn’t get any kind of suspicion.

That was actually what Tooru had been thinking when he saw the paper disappear and another one reappear in the hole. He would have to pretend that he had no idea what his parents were talking about with the hole in his wall and he would have to act as if it wasn’t there. It wasn’t a big hole, anyway. He couldn’t fit his hand through it. He could fit two fingers through it and he had to roll up the paper in order to get it through, but at least he could get notes through the hole.

Tooru smiled when he saw a note reappear and he slowly stood back up, once again avoiding the creaky floorboard to grab the note and read what it had to say. Tooru went back to sit on his bed and he frowned a little when he read what Hajime had to say, but it was just a relief that he had someone to talk to about all of this that truly understood.

“I really am sorry, Hajime,” Tooru whispered and he started to write once again on another paper, holding the paper that Hajime wrote to him on his lap. He wanted to let it all out, whether it was emotions or events, and he wanted Hajime to know all of this. He just felt blessed to even have an opportunity like this. 

Sitting down and writing, he heard something from his parent’s room and he flinched, slowly pulling himself under his blankets and hiding the papers under his pillow. He hadn’t slept at all and he knew that if his mom found out, she would be pissed at him. But he had ways of pretending he had slept or he wasn’t tired, just so his parents wouldn’t get frustrated with him. When he realized that his parents were waking up, he licked his lips and he knew that he had fifteen minutes or so before someone would wake him up. So Tooru went back to writing his note.

_That’s rough! You still got points for your grade! He was mad at you for missing a word that no one else knew? I guess I’m lucky that I’m homeschooled and don’t have to deal with things like spelling contests. I would have had to sleep in the kitchen on the cold floor if I had missed a word. My mom would have pulled me by the head too and pushed me inside when we got home, but my dad wouldn’t beat me out in the yard like that. He might’ve grabbed a belt later, but he would have waited until I was inside at least. And oh, the shoe thing was just because they weren’t clean yet and he expected them to be clean. I just haven’t had enough time. I guess that I’ll be careful where I step now that they are clean._

Tooru very carefully got up and went to put the letter through. He thought he was safe when he had pushed the note through, but that was when his door had opened and he was out of his bed at the very wrong time. “Tooru! What are you doing out of bed? Do I need to use the ankle chains again? You really are a stupid boy if you think that you can get away with stuff like this. My God, boy. Looks like you’ll be doing your studying while you bleach the toilets today. Get up, get dressed, and go start your father’s breakfast.”

Hajime was listening to everything that Tooru’s mother had said and he sighed gently, wishing there was something he could do about it. But he knew that his parents didn’t care, he knew that if he tried to run for help to the authorities, his parents would come up with an elaborate lie to cover things up, and all of the adults in his life either wouldn’t believe him, or honestly didn’t care. It was a miserable life, but it was one he had to live.

If there was one thing he didn’t want to do, it was to alert Tooru’s parents there was a hole in the wall by pulling the note out of the wall to read it himself. He knew that if one set of parents had found out, it was only a matter of time before the other set found out and they punished their kids for communicating. Hajime listened to make sure that Tooru’s mother had walked out of the room before he went to grab Tooru’s letter. He didn’t want to alert Tooru’s mother to them communicating.

Tooru had rubbed his eyes and he went to get his clothes. He didn’t want to get bleach stains on any of his other clothing, but he wasn’t sure what his mother would think about him coming downstairs in his sweatpants that had already been bleached. Or at the very least, he had used them to bleach things before and there were parts where the color was just missing. Tooru frowned and he looked between the bleached sweatpants and just regular jeans. That was when he decided to just go with the sweatpants and he figured that if he got yelled at, he would either come back to change, or he would just deal with whatever punishment that he was already going to get regardless.

He normally wouldn’t take his time to get changed, but he was just in a rotten mood now that he had screwed up like this. He was also more exhausted than he realized and that was why he was moving so slowly. Honestly, he really wasn’t in the mood to take more yelling and punishments, but it was just something he would have to deal with. He didn’t like it, but it was something he was used to by now.

Once he had finished getting changed, he glanced one more time up at the hole in the wall to see that Iwaizumi had taken his note and there was one already back in the slot. He could tell because it was different paper and it was further out on his side. Tooru went to take the note and he was a bit bummed that he wouldn’t be able to respond to the note this time. He would have to respond later.

Tooru sat back on his bed and he hoped his parents wouldn’t catch him or be mad that he had taken extra time. He just wanted to read the note that Hajime had left for him.

_I’m sorry that you got in trouble for this. I’m feeling selfish at the moment, but I really just want to keep this going. I’ll wait until you come back though. Also, it helps if you wash them the night before and give them time to try. If you’re wearing wet shoes, dirt can get on them even if you’re not walking in mud. I’ll talk to you later Tooru. Good luck today._

Those last three words had gone through Tooru’s heart and it made him start tearing up. He wasn’t sure why, but it was just someone believing in him for once that really got to him. Tooru couldn’t just leave Hajime like this though. He had to write him back and Tooru was going to do it. He heard the shower turn off in the bathroom though, which meant he really didn’t have a lot of time. Tooru sighed and he scribbled a quick note to Hajime before he went to put it through the slot. He had done so just in time and he was able to get back out to the hallway before his mother had come out of the bathroom in her robe.

“Not downstairs yet? What has gotten into you today? You are asking for a beating if you ask me. Either that, or you want to go to bed with no dinner tonight,” his mother said and Tooru bowed his head before going to the stairs. “Oh, and good choice in pants. You’re doing something right at the very least.” That was her form of a compliment and Hajime knew it, so he was grateful. He was also glad that he had decided on the pants with the bleach stains already on them.

When he had gotten to the kitchen, he started to scramble and rush making the breakfast. He wanted to make it right, but he didn’t want to be late again because that would upset his parents even more than they already were. Tooru could have always just made an easy breakfast, but he figured that making an easy breakfast would make his parents think that he was just taking the easy route and trying to get out of punishment, which would make them punish him even harder. He was going to make the warm breakfast that his parents were expecting.

He really couldn’t stop thinking about Hajime, though. He really wanted to get back to his room and see if Hajime had replied to him. It wasn’t a big deal if he hadn’t, because his note was really so short and he wasn’t expecting a reply to it.

_Thank you. Talk to you later tonight if you can!_

That was really all the note had said and Hajime was really worried that it would get Tooru in further trouble for taking as much time as he had. He knew how abusive parents could be. He knew that they wouldn’t be forgiving of Tooru taking as much time as he had, because Hajime knew that his own parents would slap him for taking so long. Hajime sighed as he started to reorganize his desk and he hid the notes that Tooru had sent him in his pencil box. His parents never looked in there and he put them underneath all of the pencils so they couldn’t really be seen.

Hajime was thinking about Tooru and how he was going to handle today. Hajime was lucky he didn’t have school. Sure, his mother would expect him to do other things and make the house spotless, even though he had cleaned it yesterday morning before school, but at least he didn’t have to go to school. The teachers and administrators where were a different kind of horrible and though they didn’t treat the other kids poorly, they did treat Hajime with more discipline than he was used to at a school. He was just lucky his other school didn’t treat him poorly.

But that didn’t stop Hajime from thinking about Tooru. Now he was thinking about how Tooru was expected to do things without being told about them. He had witnessed Tooru’s mother yell at him about something Tooru didn’t know he was supposed to do and punish him for it not being done yet. Hajime was at least told about the things he was supposed to do. If he didn’t do them quickly, then he would get punished, but his parents didn’t just expect him to do things. He thought that maybe it would be better if he was expected to do things because less yelling would happen and he was likely to get less punishment. But he was unfortunately stuck in the situation he was stuck in.

It was unfortunate that Tooru was stuck in his own situation. He would take the yelling over the constant disapproval from his parents any day, but that was because his parents really hated when he forgot about something. Tooru struggled remembering everything he was expected to do. He knew he was expected to make his dad’s breakfast and he knew he was also expected to clean up the kitchen afterward. He was also expected to eat while doing so, although his mother never wanted him to dirty an additional plate, so he was supposed to just eat the rest of whatever was in the bowl, or something that didn’t take a bowl or plate in the fridge. He really just wasn’t allowed to use what his parents were.

After he finished cleaning the kitchen – which included scrubbing the floor and polishing the silver – he was meant to go study and work on things for school, but today would be different. Tooru would have to watch videos of the school work in the bathroom while he cleaned the toilet, scrubbed the sink and shower, and organized the medicine cabinet. He knew his mom said he was only going to be bleaching the toilet, but that really meant he was going to clean the entire bathroom to her standards. Once the bathroom was done, he would finish up his learning and he would have a little bit of time to relax. He wasn’t sure if his mom would want other things from him, so he wasn’t expecting to have an hour of free time, but he would do whatever was expected of him.

Then, it was lunch time and he would have to make his mom’s lunch and he would also start to prepare for dinner. Tooru wondered if Hajime had to do all of this and he kind of hoped he didn’t. After lunch, he would sit down with his mom and he would help her with her job by organizing the papers that printed up, going down to the corner to pick up any crafting materials she needed, and helping her with gluing things to whatever it was she was creating that day. She worked at home and sold decorative table and counter or mantle pieces to people, whether it be for just a random dinner table, something for a wedding or celebration, or something to display whenever guests came over. It was a decent business and she liked the work, Tooru thought, but it was still hectic to put all of the things together with her.

Then it would be time for Tooru to start dinner, so he would have to watch the time so he wasn’t late making the food and he could have dinner on the table when his father came home. But he also couldn’t start it too early because both his mom and dad got very angry when the food was cold or not heated properly. He was allowed to sit with them to eat his dinner, but he always had to have small portions because his parents didn’t care to spend food money on him and rarely thought about him when they were out grocery shopping. They would always groan and complain about having to buy him food, so Tooru always ate the stuff that was about to expire in the fridge.

After he was done eating dinner, he would clean up the kitchen again and he would wait to see what kind of mood his dad was in. If he was in a good mood, Tooru would be allowed to go to his room to relax and study for school. If he wasn’t in a good mood, though, Tooru was expected to do something for his dad, such as clean his shoes or massage his feet. It was gross and Tooru hated massaging his dad’s feet, but it was just something he had been expected to do for a couple years now.

That was when Tooru realized that he had been day dreaming and he nearly let the food boil over onto the floor and he gasped, taking the pot off the burner and thanking anything holy that he hadn’t let that happen. If it had, he would be locked in the basement for the rest of the day and he would have to scrub the gross, concrete floor with an old sponge. Either that, or he would have to wash all of the windows on the outside and inside. “Tooru, you’d better be nearly done with breakfast. Your dad took a long shower this morning, so he’s expecting the food to be on the table for him when he gets downstairs,” his mother called down to him and Tooru started to dish all of the food out onto the plates for his parents. He made sure that it looked nice and not sloppy before he took it out to the table.

Tooru then went back to the kitchen to pour his parents their beverages and Tooru took the glasses out to the table with the utensils to eat as he heard his parents walking down the stairs, murmuring about how he had been awake when his mother had come to get him up. Tooru sighed quietly and went back to the kitchen to begin cleaning and eating what was left from the meal he had just prepared.  
He had learned how to safely eat a meal without dirtying any other dishes. Tooru had learned how when he realized it took him an extra minute to finish the dishes and his mother was rather angry at him for dirtying an additional dish. This was just another way Tooru had learned to protect himself while his parents were on his case. He wasn’t an animal and he did use utensils when he ate, but the fork only took him an extra ten seconds to wash.

The tricky part was cleaning up while he was eating. He had to take a bite while washing dishes sometimes. He also had to try to eat quickly so he could wash the pan he was eating. It was rather tough to eat while doing such a tedious task, but Tooru really had it down to a science by now. He had been doing all of this for nearly a year now and he was just lucky that his parents had stopped adding things to his list of things to do for the day. He often wondered what other kids got to do all day, but then his mind was just brought back to Hajime and he assumed that most kids were living this life. 

He really had no idea just how bad he had it.

Tooru was nearly finished with the dishes, so he decided to go see if his parents were finished with their dishes. He caught a glance of both of their plates before he went back to the kitchen to start on the floor. One of the things he had learned was how to spot-clean the floor. It took him less time and his parents couldn’t tell the difference. Tooru took out the bottles needed to do so and he went to the stove to start scrubbing the floor right in front of and around it.

It really didn’t take him long to do the floor now that he knew that he could just spot clean the floors like this. He finished quickly just as he heard yelling from outside. The voices were loud enough that Tooru had flinched, worried that he was the one getting in trouble for something. But the voices weren’t the voices of his parents, so he reminded himself that he wasn’t in trouble for something he had done.

That was when he went back out to the dining room and he took his father’s plate and glass back to the kitchen. His mom wasn’t done eating yet, so he would wait until she was done before taking her dish. The yelling kept up outside and it was getting closer, telling Tooru that the people yelling were coming closer to their apartment. He recognized the voices and Tooru sighed, knowing that Hajime was the one getting in trouble. He wondered why they were even yelling at him right now, as Tooru knew that he was meant to be in his room and they were meant to be off to his school meeting.

Why was Tooru getting too worked up about this? Why was he worried about a kid that he hardly knew? All he knew was that Hajime’s parents were terrible to him and he wished he could take the pain away and he honestly wished that Hajime didn’t live a life like he did. Tooru wished that Hajime could live a normal life and all of the abuse could be transferred to himself.

Unfortunately, this was the life that both of them were stuck in. Neither of them wished for this life. Neither of them asked to be abused and they really just wanted to be normal kids, but they really didn’t know what it meant to be normal. They had no idea that what lives they lived in really wasn’t normal in the slightest.

Tooru didn’t know that he could have been asked to do chores like these and then he could not have to do his studies while scrubbing the bathroom.

Hajime didn’t know that his parents could yell at him but not put their hands on him and push him out the door and into the car. He really didn’t know that he didn’t have to get yelled at like this at all and some parents spoke softly to their kids. He didn’t realize that some parents didn’t automatically assume the worst when the school called and asked their son to join them at the meeting.

There was nothing that Hajime could think of that would have gotten him in trouble at school like his parents were assuming. He wondered what they had said in the phone call to give them such an impression. What had he done to get himself in trouble? This time it was just going to be Hajime and his dad, which made him even more nervous. His mother wasn’t going to be there and although his mom wasn’t exactly nice to him, she was a little gentler with her approach while they were in public and she would just tell his father to punish him at home.

Hajime was trying his best not to quiver in his seat as they rode to the school.

He did his best not to tremble as he got out of the car and they approached the school

When his dad had put a hand on his shoulder, Hajime tried to stay still as he leaned down and whispered to him. “If they tell me that you have been less than pleasant to have in class, you will regret it, boy.”

When his father stood up, Hajime felt a shiver work its way up his spine once again and he was trying so very hard to think what he could have possibly done to get the school frustrated or angry at him. Was he going to force his parents to move again? Was he going to get locked in the cage that they threatened to lock him up in and fake his death so they could torture him however they saw fit?

As they waited in the dean’s office, Hajime sat stone faced and he bit his lip as the dean walked in. “So, Mr. Iwaizumi, thank you for bringing Hajime here in such a short notice. You see, he’s been doing very well. So well, in fact, that we worry that the kids in his class are starting to get discouraged. He’s already in class six and we don’t have another level for his grade, so we were going to suggest that he moves up a grade,” Professor Miki said softly. Hajime felt the relief run through him. “You will still meet with his teachers to go over his progress, but Hajime has been phenomenal thus far and we don’t have any issues with him. He has gotten perfect marks on everything he has done and it is starting to frustrate the teachers a bit, because they can’t teach him anything. So what would you say to allowing him to move up a grade level before his time?”

Hajime’s dad sighed and smiled. “You know, when we got the call this morning, we were worried that he had messed up somehow. I don’t have a single issue with Hajime moving up a grade to work a bit harder, although I am curious about the workload. We will have to adjust things at home to give him time to study and such,” his father said and this was probably the best news Hajime had been given. This was a gift.

It didn’t take Hajime too long after his father and the dean spoke for him to get dismissed to sit in the library. He thought he would impress his father further by increasing his knowledge and learning stuff from the next grade level.

After the meeting was done and Hajime had gotten back home, he was still punished for scaring his parents and his punishment was that he wasn’t allowed to eat breakfast. Hajime really wasn’t too hungry anyway, so he was allowed to go to his room to begin studying in his new text books.

Rarely did either child get lucky like this. But Hajime was just glad that he wasn’t in trouble with the school. He didn’t want to make things more difficult for his parents and he didn’t want to create more things for them to fix.

Hajime remembered the hole after he was in his room for a few minutes and he glanced up to it. There was actually a new note in the hole and he went to go grab it, going to read it.

_I hope you’re okay. I heard the way you were getting yelled at earlier so I just wanted to be sure you were okay. I’m sorry if something happened and I want you to tell me all about it._

It didn’t take long for Hajime to respond, because he didn’t want to get caught. But he wrote the note quickly and he put it back in the hole.

_I was getting yelled at for something the school did. They made me come to the meeting and it wasn’t even for something bad. They want me to move up a grade level. I still got punished when I got home and wasn’t allowed to eat breakfast, but I’m just glad that it’s nothing worse. I want to hear about your day when you can tell me. How did your day go while you were cleaning and doing class work at the same time? I couldn’t imagine my parents teaching me._

Tooru would hopefully get the note soon, but Hajime was just glad that today didn’t go nearly as bad as he thought it was going to go. It was just a relief that while he had still been punished and he was going to be expected to keep his grades up at the same level while doing even more house work, the school had given him good news. The school he attended really had issues and Hajime knew exactly why his parents had picked the school for him now.

Hajime bit his lip as he started in on his text book. Even though he was so young and the school really didn’t have too many materials for him to learn from, since he was as young as he was, he was still expected to train his mind and learn everything he possibly could.

Dreaming was starting to take Hajime over. He knew that he would be free from his parents eventually and he wouldn’t have to go through this life for much longer. Sure, it was still a long time to wait, but he only had to wait less than eight years at this point. He had learned so at school, which was actually very surprising. The school condoned punishments and physical abuse, but they didn’t condone giving children too much knowledge.

Hajime wondered why the school even existed still, but that really couldn’t be a concern of his at the moment. Right now, all he had to worry about was how he was going to study and what he was going to show his parents he had learned.

It was such a long morning and Hajime felt his stomach start to growl, but he hadn’t heard his parents call up to him to come get lunch yet. So Hajime sighed as he shook his head and tried to keep himself awake. It wasn’t until he heard a little scratching of a paper on the wall when he looked up.

This was beyond a hopeful moment for Hajime right now as he looked towards the hole in his wall. To his surprise, Tooru had actually sent him a message back and Hajime smiled to himself.

These kids really didn’t have much to smile about, but it was something little like this that give them more hope than they knew what to do with. Hajime took the note out of the wall and went to go sit down at his desk once more to read what the note had to say.

_You got punished for something good? Wow, that is really terrible. I’m sorry you have to go through that. My day was really just normal. I had to clean the bathroom while my mom gave me a quiz. She wasn’t joking about having to scrub the toilet while I did school work. She sat in a chair outside the bathroom and quizzed me the whole time. When I got something wrong she made me do something else in the bathroom. But that’s normal. Why were you punished though?_

Hajime sighed and he started to write, shaking his head. 

_I guess it’s because I didn’t know about the school moving me up a grade and I scared my parents somehow. They were worried that I had done something wrong. So I was punished for giving them a fright. But the punishment was lighter than normal, since the school gave good news instead of bad. I’m sorry you had to clean the bathroom while your mom quizzed you. That’s rough. Sometimes I just wished we didn’t have to have parents like this. Are all parents like this?_

He got back up and went to go put the note in the hole. He was just waiting so patiently by the wall when he realized that he really had no time to wait. He had to study, or his parents would get mad at him and they would punish him further. If he didn’t know the first chapter by the time his parents called him down for lunch, he would surely get a beating. So Hajime went back to his studying. It was another few minutes before Tooru had responded back to him, but the note was short this time.

_Probably not. I have to go. Talk later?_


	3. Age Eleven

“You know, you are supposed to be much better than this. It’s a shame that I have to punish you again. How many belts have you gotten this week, Hajime? How many have you gotten in just the last two days? You’ve been slipping a lot lately and it might be time to increase the punishment. Or maybe we should just change it all together," Mrs. Iwaizumi said as she went to the hall closet to pull out another tool to use against Hajime.

This was becoming more than miserable for Hajime and he really just wanted it all to be over. Why did it have to be this way? Hajime was sighing gently and he was shaking his head as he continued to sit down, looking down at the report card his school had sent. He had all very good grades and all of the marks were positive. All classes were good, but there was one deficiency. Hajime had gotten a less than perfect grade on a rather big test. It was meant to be difficult and Hajime had gotten the highest marks in his class, even his grade!

But it just wasn't good enough for his parents. Hajime had missed just a few things. It wasn't that he hadn't studied hard enough. It wasn't even that he didn't know how to do the problems, but Hajime had stayed up all night studying and he had just started to get tired. He looked at one part of the question wrong and it changed everything.

What was it that his mother wanted from him? Why did she have to punish him still? This was the actual worst and Hajime knew he had messed up when he got the test back. All of the other students were impressed and Hajime was told that if he kept up the work like he had been, the school would have to create a special classroom just for him. He would be the only student in the class and they refused to move him up another class, because they really wanted to keep him where he was. They did want to push him to be his best, but they also didn't want to give him independence any further. "So the belt isn't working. I'm going to paddle you tonight then, since you seem to not react or take the full impact of the belt anymore. You just haven't learned yet," his mother said as she came back with the metal paddle.

It really wouldn't have been so bad, but his parents realized that the metal wasn't doing any good because the wind had been acting as a cushion for his behind. It was protecting him. So they decided to add holes in it. Hajime was tasked with doing so himself, adding the holes that was, because his parents wanted him to decide where and how spaced out the welts were on his bum. "Your father is creating a new tool, but since the belt isn't doing anything right now and we don't have other options, this will have to do. You won't be able to sit comfortably for at least a day," she said as she circled him and Hajime looked down.

He knew the drill by now. He knew that he was meant to stand, get on his knees and he was meant to pull his pants down so his mother had fresh, bare skin to work with. "How many will I be receiving for this?" Hajime asked. It was a fair question, because his mother always told him how many. That was rather generous of her though, and she wasn't feeling particularly generous right now.

When he had bent down and pulled his pants down, he gasped as he felt the cold, hard metal plate slap against his rear. It really was miserable. It was also a thin sheet of medal, so it had less absorption than other materials might have. Hajime cringed and did his best not to cry out. "You know, I'm not sure how many I'm going to give you today. So I will just keep going until I think you've learned your lesson, or until I feel better about the lesson I've taught you," his mother said. It was rather discouraging for Hajime to hear, but he would definitely learn his lesson this way.

She continued to lay the metal against his skin and Hajime had lost count after probably seven slaps against him. He was starting to tear up because it was just far too painful. He had learned that if he cried out though, it would only gain him more of a punishment. It was brutal and Hajime didn't want to give his mother any more of a reason to punish him. "I'm sorry, ma'am," he said between two slaps. He wanted to get this over with as soon as he could and occasionally, an apology would help him out. Sometimes it made it worse, but Hajime only hoped that it would help this time.

"I will do better next time," Hajime said in a shaky voice after yet another hit. His mother sighed, letting the paddle slide down in her grasp and she looked down to where she was hitting him. The welts were rather prominent at this point and Mrs. Iwaizumi had started to see the faintest bit of blood on his skin. She looked down at the paddle and there was a bit more blood there as well.

It wasn't that she was holding back to stop him from bleeding. She had no issues with Hajime bleeding. But Hajime had only so many pairs of fresh undergarments and after a while, they would have to buy him more. These ones were starting to get tight on him as it was, so she wanted to save the ones that she currently had for him. "Okay, you're done. Go bathe. Don't pull your pants back on until after you are done showering. Make sure you are done bleeding before you put anything back on. Go on," his mother said as she went back to the hall closet and she put her tool away.

Hajime felt his face and he had wiped away the tears before getting to his feet shakily. It was difficult enough for Hajime to stand like this, let alone walk up the stairs and get into the tub. His mother really had done a number on him. But he really didn't want to make her any angrier, so he did his best to pull himself together and he went towards the stairs and he did his best to climb up them while in the pain he was in.

If luck was on his side, Hajime would be allowed to stay upstairs for the night. He would be allowed to relax after all of the pain he had put himself in. But that was being far too hopeful and Hajime was expecting the worst. He would be bathe and he would have to go back downstairs to do what his mother had asked of him. At least, that was what he was anticipating.

All he could do was hope, though. All he could do was pray that this wasn't for not. He really wanted to stay upstairs so he could talk to Tooru. He had learned Tooru's schedule by now. They had stayed in contact fairly consistently since they have started writing each other through the wall. It was also lucky that neither of their parents had discovered their note passing and they were in the clear as far as that went.

Hajime started the bath and he went into his room to get fresh clothing. He decided that putting on clothing for sleep would be good, since it would be time for bed in two hours or so after they had eaten dinner. Sometimes his parents didn't like him getting changed early. But he was hoping that they would let it pass for tonight. When he had gone back to his room to deposit his clothing and he went to go get sleepwear. That was when he noticed the new note in the wall and he had realized that a second note had fallen from the wall.

He knew that he only had fifteen minutes or show to finish bathing, but Hajime needed to see what Tooru had written to him about. It was clearly desperate enough to get a second note written and urgent enough to write the notes during a time that Tooru knew that Hajime wouldn't be allowed to write. It was risky for either of them to write one another when the other wasn't there to see the note right away. It was risky because their parents could come into the room at any time and see the note. They could see that they were communicating and cut off their communication completely.

_Hajime, I know that I shouldn't be writing you right now, but I have a very big problem and I really need to talk to you about it. I also need advice. Respond to me when you can, please?_

That had been what the first note had said and Hajime cringed a bit as he opened the second note. "I'm sorry, Tooru..." he said softly and he cleared his throat as he read the second message.

_It's too late. The problem was that my clothes aren't fitting me anymore. My shoulders are getting too broad and my parents think that I'm getting too chubby. They've decided that they are going to start feeding me less, which means they are going to be watching me when I make meals for now on. I'm not allowed to eat lunch anymore. Only breakfast and dinner. It's total portion control. It's going to be miserable. ):_

Hajime made a face and he shook his head. How could his parents think that Tooru was getting too big? That was really just unforgivable and they couldn't just starve him. Sure, they could and they were obviously going to start making him go hungry, but How long did they think they would get away with this? Hajime thought he had it bad, but Tooru was getting punished for his normal body physique and that was not acceptable. Hajime had seen Tooru just last week, and there was no way that he was chubby. He was all skin and bones! They obviously had to buy him new clothes, since he was still growing!

Hajime really didn't have time for this, but he went back to his desk and put the notes in his pencil case. They had written a lot, so Hajime had started hiding the notes in other places, but the pencil case would do for now, since he was in a rush. He started writing a new note right then.

_That is just wrong. I know our parents are terrible already, but starving you is a new low. I'm sorry, Tooru. I'm going to find a way to help you out. There is no way you are even a little fat. You are very fit and you're just growing, so they need to buy you new clothes. I know this never happens like we want it to, but just hang in there._

Hajime finished writing his note and he shook his head after a couple moments. He went to put the note in the hole and he hoped that it was a good time for Tooru because he wasn't going to wait to respond to him after reading what he had read. That was definitely one of those urgent messages still.

That was when Hajime had gone to take his bath and he was moving along quickly so he could make up for the time he had spent while writing his note.

It was also roughly the time Tooru had gone back to his room and he went to his bed to lay down, since his mother had sent him to bed without dinner that night. She was very serious about this 'chub' that Tooru had somehow put on, but it really wasn't his fault at all. He didn't eat a lot as it was, because his parents only bought enough for themselves and whatever left over food there was went to Tooru.

At least Tooru was done with school and chores for the day. He wasn't sure how much more he could take after being dragged by the hair and shoved back down in the yard to do more exercise to get even skinnier than he was. This really wasn't a good experience at all, yet it was one that Tooru had to go through.

Tooru then saw the note in the wall and he went to go grab it, reading what Hajime had to say. It was a very inspiring note and it actually brought tears to Tooru's eyes. "Thanks for listening to me." It was so sad to think that just a little bit of support could fuel these boys so much. It didn’t even cross their minds what actual support from parental or authority figures felt like. If just reading the support on paper did this much, it was impossible to fathom what they could do with actual support. Tooru went to write a note of his own, the tears spilling from his eyes as he did. It had hit the paper as he continued to write. He hoped Hajime wouldn’t think anything of it because he couldn’t risk writing a new one and throwing this one out tonight. It was just too much of a gamble. 

_Hajime… Thank you for listening. You don’t have to do anything to help, really. This is all on me right now. It’s also not too bad right now. They’ve only made me skip one meal so far and that’s because my mom and dad realized the clothes things after I had eaten lunch. It wasn’t even a big lunch! But they decided that I can’t have dinner now that I’ve had lunch today. I’ll manage for tonight and likely tomorrow, too. I appreciate the concern though. How was your progress report? Were your grades to your parents’ liking?_

Tooru slowly wiped his eyes and looked over the note before he stood up and went to slide the note in the hole. This was starting to become miserable for Tooru, but at least talking to Hajime and getting his mind on Hajime’s life was good enough to distract him from his own painful life. He could focus on ways to solve Hajime’s life and feel good that he helped someone. The only person Tooru could possibly help was Hajime, and sometimes it really wasn’t enough. But it was good enough to get a distraction for a little while. It was good enough to get his mind elsewhere anyway.

He knew that it was dangerous to leave the note there when Hajime wasn’t around, but they hadn’t been caught yet. It seemed as though luck had been on their side lately. It really did seem that way, but Tooru was just waiting for the other shoe to drop, or something along those lines. Really, he was just waiting for this to be taken from him too.

As Tooru laid on his bed, he cradled his stomach and he thought about how he would more often feel the pangs of being hungry. He had listened to how his parents were ‘stuffed’ and how they often couldn’t take another bite because they were just far too full. Tooru had only felt like that on the days he was sick and had the stomach bug. Not that his parents knew that he had the stomach bug, or that he was actually sick, but that just painted a picture of how often Tooru was already left feeling inadequately fed. His parents didn’t really feed him as he was.

While Tooru laid on his bed, he closed his eyes and he tried to get to sleep. He really hadn’t slept the night before due to his parents forcing him to catch the rodent that was loose in their house. He eventually had caught it and disposed of the thing, but he was up much later than he should have been. He had only slept for two hours, and since he wasn’t allowed to eat, he figured he would be able to get away with falling asleep.

That was a very wrong thing to be assuming, though. Tooru had dozed off and he was falling asleep, but he woke up to a pair of angry-sounding shoes coming up the stairs and his name was being yelled. “Tooru! You know that we expect you to take care of our dishes. You’re just asking to not eat breakfast too, huh? That’s it. I’ve decided. You’ll cook our breakfast but you won’t be allowed to eat breakfast tomorrow morning. You’ll also have to scrub the outside of the apartment, so congratulations to you.”

Tooru’s dad was standing in the doorway of his room and Tooru slowly stood up, bowing his head in response and lifting it slowly. “Could I go take care of your dishes now? Or is that chance already gone away?” Tooru asked as he looked up at his father, blinking a bit. 

His father did a bit of thinking, but he sighed as he nodded. “Yes, you can go take care of our dishes. Good thinking on your part. It won’t get you out of your penalty though. Go on. Go do the dishes,” his father said as he let Tooru get through and go down stairs.

What a mess this was. Tooru really should have realized he wouldn’t get out of cleaning their dinner plates, even though he wasn’t allowed to eat. It was dumb thinking on his part, but it was just another thing for Tooru to learn he supposed. He had learned and he wouldn’t let himself slip again. At the very least, since he wasn’t allowed to eat lunch, he would have one less dish to clean when he did the dishes from his mom’s lunch. 

Tooru had gone down the stairs and he decided that he would try to make his mother less angry as well. “Mother, I am sorry for disappointing you. Shall I iron your outfit for tomorrow before I go to sleep tonight?” he asked. He bowed his head and he slowly lifted himself up to stand up straight to hear her response. He had learned a few months ago that he would get less of a punishment if he had offered to do things for his parents. He would still get punished no matter what he did, but he had learned how to lessen the punishment at the very least.

“Sure. I’ll leave my clothes out on the door tonight and I expect it done before you go to bed,” she said as she stood up. She shook her head and Tooru waited for her to go back out to the living room before he started to clean up their dinner.

He would clean the dishes as fast as he could so he could go back to his room and tell Hajime about all of this. It was rather unfortunate to be in such a situation, but Tooru has definitely learned from his mistake. He would definitely get decent sleep tonight and he would continue to learn from his mistake tomorrow, because scrubbing the side of the house was far too much work. He also had to wear rubber gloves because he had learned that he was allergic to the cleaner and his parents told him that being allergic to it wouldn’t get him out of cleaning anything.

It was also rather disappointing that all of this was because his parents thought he was gaining weight when all it had been Tooru’s body changing and growing. They needed to buy him new clothes regardless, but they clearly didn’t want to spend more money on Tooru than they needed to. Tooru sighed gently and he continued to clean up the kitchen as he remembered that eating any scraps from his parents would definitely be noticed, so he wouldn’t try that. He would just have to suffer like always. He hoped that they would eventually pull the ban off of food and he would be allowed to eat normally again, but that definitely wouldn’t be for a while.

Hajime had finished with his bath and he went back into his room. He was fairly certain that he was done bleeding, so he was going to get redressed again and go down to set the table. His bath really didn’t take long, but he knew that he was already going to get hit when he went downstairs. He was either getting a beating, or he would have to do something else for his parents. Either way, getting those grades were just not enough for his parents and it would be a lesson for him from now on.

After making sure that he was completely done bleeding, he dried himself off and got changed into sleep clothing before looking up to see that Tooru had sent him another message. Hajime really didn’t have time to write another message, but he was going to anyway. If it got him another beating, it was worth it to see what Tooru had sent back to him.

Hajime sighed as he went to his desk and he wrote another message to Tooru, shaking his head at the thought that Tooru’s parents were really horrible enough to take dinner away from him made him feel lucky to be in the situation he was in. All he could think about was Tooru right now and he wondered what his parents would do in this situation. They’d probably tell him he had to wear the clothes that were too small for him because they weren’t going to spend more money on him. But he didn’t have to think about what his parents would do, because he was already going through enough with his parents.

_The progress report got me a beating tonight. I can hardly walk, but I’ve learned not to stay up all night studying I guess. The teachers even told my parents that I got the best grade and they are considering moving me up with a few other kids into a completely new class. They plan making it a new level or something. I was in class 5, but they are going to start a class 6. I don’t know who they intend on moving into the class though, because none of the other kids are ready for it. I’m going to try to take my dad’s hammer to the wall tomorrow to make the hole just a little bigger so I can send you food that way. I’m sorry your parents are taking meals away from you. That shouldn’t be a punishment._

Hajime finished writing and he went back to the hole. He decided that he should wait for Tooru to be in the room this time, so he hid the note under his pillow before he went to touch the hole. Surely, the hole could get bigger. It wouldn’t get big enough for either parent to notice, but Hajime had to find a way to make it bigger.

There was a plan formulating inside Hajime and he hummed, thinking about the best way to pull it off. His parents never asked him about what he ate at school, and there were meals that came with little snacks, such as string cheese and little packs of trail mix. If he made the hole just a tiny bit bigger, Hajime knew for a fact that he could get other things through the hole too, but for now, he would try to sneak the stringed cheese and packs of granola home. He could also sneak a few carrots and the bread from his sandwiches, he would just have to cut the bread before he put it through.

Hajime sighed gently as he went back down stairs and he wanted to help Tooru as much as he could. But unfortunately, he had enough to worry about himself. He was rubbing at his lower back because it was still beyond painful. He was struggling to walk still, but he hoped that it would be all better by the morning. He was hoping it would, anyway. This pain was super intense and probably one of the worst pains he had experienced. At least, it was the worst pain he had experienced in a while. He had been doing his best not to screw up lately.

There were better days for both of them and there were worse days, just like a normal kid. But normal children didn’t have to experience such abuse. The only thing was though, neither Hajime, nor Tooru knew about the way other kids lived.

Hajime finished limping down the stairs and he went to go set the table for his mother. He was actually glad that he didn’t get expected to do things like Tooru did. He wasn’t expected to cook dinner, he wasn’t expected to clean up after his parents, and he wasn’t expected to do nearly as much as Tooru was. He was expected to keep his grades up and clean things when he was told to, but they never expected him to just do it on his own accord. It would likely scare his parents if they saw him doing things on his own and they would try to figure out what was wrong. They would start to think that he was defective. 

Hajime went into the kitchen and started to take plates down and out to the table. He was still limping a bit, trying to keep his pain in check, but it was still painful when he limped. He set the plates out though and he went back to grab glasses and utensils to eat with. Hajime was breathing deep to work through the pain. It wasn’t exactly working, but he was lying to himself and telling himself that it was working and he just had to think of the whole ‘mind over matter’ thing.

Once the table was finished being set and he was excused to go wait until dinner was finished, he went to lay on the couch. Normally, he wouldn’t be allowed to do so. But he was in so much pain that he couldn’t sit down and he was afraid to even try. He would have to in order to eat, but he wasn’t quite ready yet. It was just too much to handle at the moment.

Hajime yawned as he slowly got back up, because dinner had to be nearly ready by now. He was right, which was a relief for Hajime because he could eat, finish up the chores his parents asked of him, and then go back to bed and wait for Tooru to come back. His parents were serving and he waited to be seated until his parents were seated.

While he sat down, he cringed and he tried to sit in the most comfortable position to control the pain. He was in so much pain that he really didn’t want to eat. But he knew that if he didn’t eat a little, his parents would get mad regardless, so he would have to eat. If he didn’t eat, they would punish him further and cause him more pain and complain about cooking him food in the first place. Hajime wondered briefly about trying to run.

But there really wasn't any way for Hajime to get out, was there? He had nothing, he didn't know where he could possibly go, and he knew his parents would make up an elaborate lie just to say that he wasn't telling the truth. The last one he had heard them trying to use to a person in the neighborhood when they asked about a mark on him was something about Hajime being mentally unstable. It was embarrassing, but he had learned that they would say anything to keep him.

If they didn't want him, why not just let him go? Why couldn't they let him go to an orphanage like some of the kids in his class? They sounded strict, but he had yet to hear of someone getting beat to near death in one of those places.

After a few moments, Hajime started to eat and he knew that he would probably regret this later, but he was just happy to be able to eat and not have his parents complain about his weight. He kept thinking about Tooru and how Tooru's parents had decided to start punishing him for not wanting to buy him new clothing. How messed up was that?

It took Hajime maybe ten minutes to eat, but he finished everything his parents gave to him. They would complain about him wasting anything too, so he learned that completely finishing the meal they gave him was always the best option. They very rarely gave him too much, so he was always satisfied with the meal they gave him. It wasn't always enough, but he had learned that asking for more would get him a beating too. It was as if it was such an inconvenience for them to hear that their son was still hungry.

Maybe if they would do their jobs as parents, they wouldn't have to hear about him complaining about being hungry. He was just a kid, after all.

Once all of their plates were nearly clean, Hajime stood up and winced a bit as he straightened himself up and looked at his parents. "What would you like me to do?" Hajime asked, preparing himself to be told to go do something else, whether it be laundry or the dishes from the meal they just ate. 

"How about you take the garbage out and you go sweep up the porch. It's getting rather messy again," his father said as he took another bite of the fish on his plate and hummed, looking up at his son. "Your mother told me about your grades in class. All good but that last test, huh? I guess you were asking for a beating anyway. It's been a while anyway. Oh, and the new tool for your punishments is nearly done. I think even you will be impressed."

Everything his father had said gave Hajime such a bad feeling about everything. He really just wanted all of this to be over already. He wanted the day to be over, he wanted the year to be completed, and he definitely wanted his high school years to be over. The longer he stayed with his parents, the less will he had to keep living. Sometimes, he wished they would just kill him already.

The reason he was holding on though was because of Tooru. He was holding on to Tooru and he was giving Hajime all the reason he needed to live right now. If anything had happened to him, Hajime would beg for death. He wouldn't even care how it happened at that point. He would potentially take his own life at that rate.

Hajime bowed his head to his father and nodded to the understanding they had come to about Hajime taking the trash out to the garbage cans. He figured he would get a start on that and he looked at the table. "Could I take the trash off the table and put it in this bag?"

There was a bit of shock on his mother's face and she smiled, tilting her head just a bit. "Well, look at you thinking all smartly. Yes, you may take the trash off of the table. As long as you do it quickly, that is," his mother said. Hajime nodded and he moved to take the napkins and empty plastic bottles off the table. They would clean their plates, so there was no worry about the food that was still on their plates at the moment. They wouldn't let a single thing go to waste there.

Hajime looked out at the dishes that his parents had dirtied and he cringed at the thought of him having to do all of those dishes too. But he would manage and then he would get to sleep. That was what he was hoping, anyway. He knew that his parents wouldn't let him rest, even though it was meant to be a break for him from school. He had heard his parents talking about summer school for him though, so maybe he would have to attend that.

Going to school was actually a break for Hajime and it was really sad to think of it like that. It was a break because his teachers didn't hit him. They yelled at him and he had watched one of the other students getting hit by a teacher, but they rarely laid a hand on him. It was because he was a good student and he did nearly everything he was supposed to do. It was definitely good that Hajime didn't get hit at school, but that was when he sighed and thought about Tooru.

That boy didn't ever get a break from his parents. His dad worked, but Tooru spent every single moment with the abusive mother he had. Why was his mind so wrapped up and preoccupied with Tooru now? Hajime wondered why his mind kept going back to him, and that when it hit him. Hajime was thinking about him because he was worried about his parents taking meals away from him now. He was worried about keeping his promise now that school was nearly over. Maybe he could convince his parents to let him go to summer school. He was hopeful he could convince them, but he would have to make it seem like an inconvenience for him to get to go to summer school. They loved to do anything to inconvenience Hajime, he realized.

Hajime put the lid back on the garbage bin and he turned around to start back into his house. That was when he saw Tooru in the window, watching him scrubbing their floors. His parents were very obsessed with Tooru cleaning and doing the floors. They wanted them to be clean enough to eat off of, which meant that Tooru had to clean them very often.

"You'll get out of there some day, Tooru. I believe in it." Hajime started to walk back to his front door and went inside to go get the broom. He was so preoccupied with Tooru that he nearly ran into his mother. Very quickly, Hajime jumped back and waited for her to go where she was going to go before he started to go for the broom once more. He would get beat even more if he had run into his mother. That wouldn't have been good.

Once Hajime was finally able to grab the broom, he went back outside and started to sweep up the porch. He knew how his parents liked it and tonight was not a night to take shortcuts. He would clean it as well as he could with his current injuries. He was far too hurt to be doing such a thing and he definitely shouldn't have been allowed to bend over. He was just in way too much to be able to do these things.

When he was nearly done and he was meant to start picking the leaves up off of their porch, he watched as Tooru came outside and the boy had a couple bags in his hands. Hajime desperately wanted Tooru to see him. He wanted to hear his sweet voice once again and he wanted to give him a hug. He wanted to feed the boy, but Hajime knew that talking to him wasn't a good idea. They weren't allowed to talk to other kids or allowed to have outlets other than this. It was sad, but it was really just the truth.

But then Tooru turned around, he saw how Hajime was on the porch and how he was sweeping things up. It was then that he thought of a good idea to impress his parents. Tooru wanted to speak to him too, he wanted Hajime to see him and he wanted to be allowed to talk to the boy. It was a miserable, lonely life to be living, Tooru thought. But he was managing as well as he could. He hadn't had friends before, so why should he be worried about one particular boy? Tooru wasn't sure, but he started to walk quickly over to Hajime's yard and he stood there, waiting for Hajime to notice him.

When Hajime looked up, he was greeted with the sight of a lovely, brunet boy and it made Hajime smile. He moved closer to the edge of the porch. "I have another note for you, but I'm going to wait until we are alone for sure. I want our parents to be asleep," Hajime said quietly and he was hoping that Tooru had heard him well enough.

Tooru had clearly heard him, though, which was really just a great thing for Hajime to be made aware of. Hajime smiled and he waved to Tooru before the brunet excused himself to go inside. He had been told to take some bags out to his mom's car, so that was really the only reason that he had been inside to begin with. "Hajime, you're so sweet," Tooru whispered to himself and he smiled before he went inside again.

Nearly an hour had passed before either boy was able to go back up to their room and sleep for the night. Tooru had to iron his mother's clothes and Hajime was told to clean out the fridge again, which meant he would have to make a second run out to the trash bins that night. Hajime was exhausted, and he knew that Tooru was probably the same, since he wasn't allowed to eat and eating gave everyone the energy they needed to make it through the day. It was really just the science behind how their bodies worked and Hajime had known quite a bit in that field. He found it interesting and he was also using it to find ways to make his body hurt worse from his parents beating him as often as they did.

When Hajime heard the soft sounds of his parents snoring, he finally got out of bed and went to push his note through. It was immediately taken by Tooru and the boy read the note, smiling so sweetly to it. Tooru had started to write his own note and he was in a rather good mood for the news he had been given that day. Sure, he would start going hungry even more than he was used to, but just knowing that someone cared about him gave Tooru the energy to make it through this miserable life.

_Hey, Hajime. If you think you might get in trouble with the hammer, please don't worry about it. But thank you for caring about me and this whole food thing. It's just nice to know that someone cares about me. You're a really good friend, Hajime. You shouldn't have to worry about me and my problems. You have enough of your own._

When Hajime got the note and read through it, he started to write a new one. If Tooru thought that he was just going to abandon the brunet, he was very wrong. That started to frustrate him and he shook his head to get rid of the anger inside of him. He was feeling that way a lot, lately. He was angry for really no reason at all. Sure, he had a right to be angry about his parents, but he had no outlet for the emotion. 

_Tooru, I worry about your problems because I want to find a way to help you. I don't think you should have to go through this. You definitely shouldn't be starved just because your parents are too lazy or cheap to buy you new clothes. No one deserves to go hungry._

After finishing the note, Hajime looked at it and he sighed. If Tooru really thought that he deserved to starve, he had another thing coming for him. Hajime would absolutely find a way to help him. If Tooru didn't want the help, it was too bad for him because Hajime was going to help him anyway. He stood up and put his note through the hole, which was taken very quickly as well.

The next note of Tooru's had gotten back to Hajime very quick.

_Thank you, Hajime. You're the best._

It made Hajime smile and he knew that Tooru had given in by that point. He knew that Hajime had gotten Tooru to stop fighting him on trying to help. 

After a few more notes, the two had fallen asleep and they were actually both very satisfied with how the day had turned out. It was sad that they were satisfied with such terrible lives, but this was really just the only way they knew how to live their lives. When Hajime had woken up, he went down the hall and he heard his parents downstairs, getting ready for their days. That was what Hajime was assuming, anyway. Hajime then went into his parents’ room and found his dad's tool box.

"Yeah, this will work," Hajime said as he pulled the hammer out, but then he got his eyes on another tool. It was a drill and Hajime smirked a bit. He had no idea how it worked and he knew that he would probably get killed if his parents found him with it, but it was probably less noisy than the hammer and he knew it would make less of a potential mess.

Hajime traded the hammer in his hand for the drill and he went back to his room with it. Luckily enough, it was battery powered and there was still some power left to it. Hajime was worried about that, but now he had nothing to worry about. That was, until he heard Tooru's mother yelling in Tooru's room. This was just insane and Hajime knew he would have to wait, but he just wanted to solve Tooru's eating issues. Why couldn't any of this be easier for the two boys? Why couldn't their parents just not care? Why did they have to get abused like this?

It took a while and Hajime wrote a note and pushed it through the hole when he thought Tooru was alone.

Tooru read the note quickly.

_Is she gone?_

_Yes. She's gone._

Hajime started at that point. His parents were outside and Tooru's parents were away somewhere. He drilled and he pushed through the hole and he had to remind himself that he could only make it just a little bit bigger, so they didn't risk their parents noticing it and covering it up. Once he was finished, Hajime went to return the drill and he came back to his room, looking at his handy work. It was big enough to fit his finger through now and he smiled, putting his finger through.

That was when he felt the touch of someone else through the hole and he nearly pulled his hand back, but that was when he realized who it had to be.

It had to be Tooru. They could finally touch now. They could finally make a few of their worries disappear.

Hajime had managed to convince his parents to let him attend summer classes and Tooru had gotten through the next few days without struggling too much.

The day Hajime had come home from his first day of summer classes and he was allowed to go up to his room, he wrote to Tooru and he was fairly certain Tooru would be there. He watched as the note disappeared and he smiled to himself, very quickly putting all of the food through the hole that he had collected. It was just the cheese stick and carrots, but it was substance for Tooru to nourish his body.

Everything seemed to be looking up for the boys. They were managing to make it through all of this. They were managing to work through their struggles and they found a way to cope.

It was far from perfect, but each of the boys had a much stronger hope for the future to come.


	4. Age Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING**  
> This chapter contains depictions of rape and graphic explanations of vomit. Please do not read if you are at all bothered, or "triggered" by those things.

There was a very concerning sound coming from the walls and Tooru looked at the wall of his bedroom, very worried about the things that were going on over there. What was happening? Why was there such an odd noise coming from his bedroom? Very slowly, the brunette started to stand and he really wanted to see, or at least hear, better what had been happening. Of course, that was no use, but Tooru wasn't ready to give up. He wanted Hajime to be okay. If there was one thing he had learned, it was to never trust an odd sound coming from Hajime's room. The last time he had heard a strange sound, it was the sound of his father pouring some sort of acid on the floor and Hajime was told to clean it up with hands. It burned the poor boy and things had never really been the same.

The sound stopped for a minute and Tooru thought it was over, but he heard it again and that was when his nose crinkled. It sounded like some sort of wood creaking, but there was also fabric involved. When Hajime had cried out in what Tooru only knew to be pain, that was when things had gotten even more concerning and tears started to prick in the chestnut-haired boy's eyes. What in the world was happening to his best friend? Why couldn't Tooru see what was going on or communicate telepathically to the boy?

It was one of these moments that Tooru had wished that there really was no wall, or it was one where he could see everything happening, but the people on the other side didn't know he was watching. He didn't know there were windows like that already, but he wanted one right now. It had gotten so much more complicated now that the two boys had grown closer together and they had kept their friendship so tight. Each of them had heard the word used. They didn't realize that they had been friends, but they knew they meant the world to each other.

Tooru had wiped the tears from his eyes and went back to sit down. He did end up jumping again when he heard Hajime cry out again and that was when he knew that he was receiving some kind of punishment. The brunet didn't know what the punishment was for, but he knew that Hajime didn't cry out otherwise.

The moment that both of the boys thought that things were starting to get better, each of their parents ripped that thought away from them and made things worse again. Tooru thought that his parents were starting to forget about how his parents thought he was getting chubby and they eventually bought him new clothes. But they remembered his eating schedule again when he started to get holes in his shoes because his feet were growing, so they took away lunch from him again.

Hajime had continued to feed Tooru lunch, but there was less of a worry for a few weeks there. It made absolutely no sense to Hajime, because Tooru's shoes getting holes in them were because his shoes were too small, not because he was gaining weight. It was asinine if you asked Hajime, but there still wasn't anything to be done about the situation that Tooru had found himself in. It was disgusting.

Things had started to look up for Hajime too, but when they had started to look brighter, his parents found another thing to get mad at him about. They were always looking for excuses to be mad at their son, no matter what the reason was. They seemed to make a hobby and passion out of torturing their son. The more miserable Hajime was, the happier they seemed to be. Hajime wasn't sure how that worked, though. He wasn't allowed to show he was miserable in anyway, because he would get punished for that too.

Right now, Hajime was being punished for getting his uniform dirty at school when they had to go in the gardens and plant fruits and vegetables. They weren't allowed to clean up afterwards though, nor were they allowed to put down any kind of covering to protect their clothes as they were messing around in the dirt. It was rather unfair to the students, but they really just couldn't help getting dirty. None of the students went home without a bit of dirt on them, so Hajime was expecting that most of the students received a punishment for today.

Today's punishment was new though. Hajime had to endure his father slapping some sort of object inside of him while being absolutely quiet. He also had to deal with his mother using the new object grabber they had on his hair. That was really what they had gotten it for, but they tell everyone they meet that they use it to pick up things when they can't just bend down and pick it up. It was stupid, but Hajime had learned to hate the stupid thing.

He didn't know what his dad was doing to his insides, but he knew that it hurt terribly and he was likely going to be bleeding afterwards. He knew his parents didn't care though and his dad had been protecting himself from Hajime's blood, because he had on some sort of covering over whatever he had put inside Hajime. It hurt and Hajime knew that he didn't want to figure out what it had been though.

After probably ten minutes, his father had let out a grunt which was when he felt the object inside him start to pulse and twitch, and he slowed down and pulled away from Hajime. His mother had let go of his hair with the mechanism and Hajime was left on his bed, all alone and crying. They didn't care that he was crying or in pain, nor did they care that he was in fact bleeding, but they would be mad if Hajime gotten blood on his comforter or his clothes. They told him that he was excused from dinner that night, too, since they didn't want him at dinner, so Hajime was going to be in his room the rest of the night.

Hajime felt disgusting and he really wanted to bathe. He knew his parents would be mad if he was in the bath when they might want to use it, though, so Hajime stayed on his bed. He didn't sit up or move, but he did see something appear in the wall and Hajime made a face before realizing it was a note. Tooru had wanted to talk and Hajime needed to tell him about this new form of torture. It was honestly the worst, but he really didn't want to risk bleeding on anything. He didn't need another reason for his parents to be mad at him.

It was so moist behind him though. Before his dad had started to cause him pain, Hajime had felt a cold liquid against his skin and it was so slippery. "Tooru... I have so much to tell you. I'm so sorry that I can't right now, though..." he said, wiping his face against his pillow. He wasn't sure if he was actually bleeding or if it was the liquid his dad had used first. Very slowly and carefully, the black-haired male reached behind himself and touched his butt, which his dad was holding onto so tightly. He cringed as he started to touch his hole.

When he had pulled his finger away, he sighed, nodding to himself in a sort of silent, self confirmation. He was bleeding. It wasn't as much as he thought though, so maybe he could risk standing and getting Tooru's letter? It was a risk and Hajime knew it, but he really wanted to talk to the boy on the other side of the wall. He was developing a kind of co-dependence with the other boy and neither of them realized it, but they were relying on one another a little too much lately. But with the situation they were in, they had to rely on each other.

The note had sat there for another moment and Hajime very slowly stood up, going towards the wall with the hole in it. He pulled the note out and unrolled it, walking towards the desk in the process.

_Hajime, what's going on over there? Are you okay? All I could hear was a bed creaking and you yelling out a few times..._

The spiky haired boy sighed and he reached for paper in his drawer. He had discovered that he had to start conserving his paper because he was running low and his parents weren't going to buy him more. He took extra paper from the school now and he used old homework assignments to send notes now. It was a rather unfortunate way for Hajime to have to send notes to Tooru, but he really just had to do it. It was better than having to send notes on the scraps of paper left of what Tooru had sent him. He knew that Tooru had an abundance of paper and his mom wasn't complaining about the amount he had, but Hajime wasn't going to rip up a single one of the notes that Tooru had sent, just so he could have paper to write on. So, Hajime had to improvise.

When Hajime started to write, he wrote so much smaller than what he used to write. It was still legible and he had told Tooru why he was doing so, but he had a hard time with this at first. He wanted to write the same size at first, but he realized soon enough that it really couldn't happen. He had to sneak paper from school and he had yet to be discovered. He just hoped that it wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass.

He finished the note and he went back to the wall. Hajime had to hold onto the wall for a minute, because he was feeling super week in the knees. Whatever his parents had done to him had taken a lot of energy out of him. He just hoped that his parents would go back to the paddle or making him lay on a bed of screws in the basement. It was wishful thinking, but Hajime was hopeful still. With his luck lately and all of the things he had realized that he had started to gain in his life, hope was really all he had.

_Hey Tooru, I'm bleeding but it's not a lot of blood. My parents found a new way to punish me and I think this might be the worst of the ways they punish me now. They put some sort of tool inside me and my dad was pushing it in me so hard. It's so big too and it's super hard... I would rather they do the whipping over this, even though the whipping made me bleed too. They put the tool in my butt, by the way. My mom was also holding my hair back with their item grabber. She was pulling on it so hard... But I'm okay I guess._

When Hajime finished writing, he went back to the wall and he put it the small, rolled up paper into the wall. He stood there for another minute and he waited for Tooru, but he was in so much pain that Hajime was regretting still standing now. He waited another few seconds before he decided to lay back on his bed, with his face and chest against the pillows so his butt and back could rest a bit.

It didn't take Tooru long to realize that Hajime had fallen asleep and he had heard what his parents had said to him, so Tooru knew that he wasn't likely to get another note until tomorrow. It was sad, but Tooru just wanted Hajime to be okay. With what had been described, the brunette also had no idea what the dark-haired's parents were doing to him and it really did sound painful. He felt sorry for the boy, but he had his own problems to focus on now. He had to focus on his own things. But he still couldn't stop thinking about Hajime and what he had said.

Tooru had replied back to him before he realized he wasn't getting another letter back, but that was a typical thing to happen in all honesty.

_That sounds terrible, Hajime. I am so sorry your parents have come up with that punishment. If you had to pick, would you take the acid or would you rather them do what you described to me? Either one sounds bad. By the way, my parents have finally given up on the food punishment. They bought me all new clothes because I'm still growing out of my current clothes. They were fighting it for so long too. It's sad, really. So you don't have to worry about getting food to me anymore right now. I'll tell you if change their minds on that, though._

When Tooru had let five minutes pass, he decided to go back downstairs and start dinner for his parents before they even had the chance to yell at him. It wasn't a typical thing to happen, but sometimes he surprised his parents by starting dinner before they told him to do so. They had to tell him what they wanted for dinner first though, which really didn't happen very often. He had to guess a few times, but tonight he knew that they wanted him to fix an American dish that they were very fond of lately. He wasn't particularly sure what their fascination was with burgers, but he still ate them anyway.

After he had gone down the stairs, he had shook the hair out of his face and got to work, wondering how he should approach his parents about wanting a haircut. It was rather rare that Tooru had asked them for things like this, but he wanted his hair to stop getting in his face when he was doing things. He didn't want it to be much shorter, but he knew his parents would cut it as short as they wanted to if he asked. He didn't care though. It was getting far too long and usually he wouldn't have to worry about things like this. Usually, his parents would cut his hair before he had to ask. But they were slipping on those types of things lately.

When Tooru had started cooking, he looked outside the window and he watched as a dog walker had gone by his apartment. The man was walking three dogs and he wished he had been tasked with such a thing. Sometimes, he just wanted to get away. It was a blessing whenever his mom sent him to the corner store to get something. It was ten minutes away from his mom and he got to be free for that ten minutes. He had thought about running away every single time he got the chance, but this was the only life he had known. He had only known living in this abusive life and he had learned to accept it.

"Tooru, come out here!" his father had yelled and Tooru turned the pan down to low so he could step away without the burgers burning. He didn't want to get in trouble for the burgers burning, but he knew it would be his fault if they had. So, he had taken the precautionary measure to prevent them from burning. He would also get in trouble for the dinner taking too long, but it would be less trouble this way.

Once he had made it to the dining room, he had bowed his head to his father and he slowly stood up straight. "Your mother isn't feeling well tonight, so cook her burger and put it in the fridge when it's done. Also, I want to try my burger less cooked this time, so take mine out of the pan earlier tonight. Oh, it better not be cold when your's and your mother's is done cooking. I want it hot," he said and Tooru nodded, going back to the kitchen to figure out how to make this work. 

He would have to serve his father before serving himself. He didn't want to risk his mother not liking the burger, so he would cook her burger to a regular temperature. Tooru didn't care if he ate his burger burnt or not, so he would just have to focus on the other burgers. Tooru could eat just about anything, he had learned. When his parents were taking away his lunches, he had learned that he could really eat anything if he set his mind to it. He didn't mind eating anything, either, but he just had to learn to control his faces as he ate his food. It wasn't exactly in his control, though, so he had to learn how to eat and hide the faces he made as he ate.

His mother had made a sound from the living room and Tooru wondered what was wrong with her, but he couldn't focus on that much right now. It was becoming too much of a hassle for him to worry about what his parents were doing and he was getting too distracted trying to worry about them when he really just needed to worry about what they wanted him to do. His dad had asked him to worry about the dinner, so that was what Tooru was going to focus his worries on.

It didn't take much longer for the brunet to finish cooking the dinner, so he served his dad. Or at the very least, he was intending on serving his dad. His father wasn't in the room anymore, though, so Tooru had to put a lid on the plate and but the plate in the microwave so he could try to keep it warm. It didn't take Tooru too long, so he went to go try to find his father. That was when he had discovered that his dad was in the living room with his mother. The sight wasn't pretty.

His mother had vomited all over the floor and Tooru frowned a bit. He knew he was going to have to clean that, so he shook his head a bit and went back to get his mother a bucket and a glass of water. He wasn't exactly sure what they would want from him, but the brunet had to do some guessing and he wasn't going to just stand there to get yelled at. When he came back, he approached his mother and bowed his head. "I will clean up when you go to bed tonight. I brought you some water and a bucket just in case, though," Tooru said quietly and his mother ripped both out of his hand.

When his father motioned to the kitchen, he was really unsure of what his father had wanted of him, but he went to the kitchen anyway and he decided that this would be a good time to start his clean up. He knew that he wasn't going to be let off the hook just because his mother was sick. He knew that he would still be expected to do just as much cleaning and he would be expected to do extra because she was sick. When he got back to the kitchen, he decided that doing the dishes was probably his best plan of action at the moment. He just wanted to avoid getting yelled at further.

It didn't take him long to eat his burger and finish up in the kitchen, so he decided to go back to see if his father was going to come looking for food any time soon. He really did wonder if that was something that was going to happen. He knew he was going to get yelled at for the burger being cold either way, so Tooru sighed as he leaned against the wall in the kitchen. His mind started to wander to Hajime and he really just wanted the boy to be okay and to be out of pain. Hopefully sleep would help him with that.

What was it that Hajime's parents were doing to him? It really didn't sound like a good thing and Tooru really was so concerned about it. Although, what was the point in being concerned about the boy? There was nothing Tooru could do about it and he knew that he could only be there after to listen to and read his notes afterwards.

It really wasn't a luxurious life they were living in, but it was what they had learned to deal with.

Hearing his father call for him, Tooru pushed off of the wall and he had made his way out to the kitchen. That was when he was surprised by a hand to the back of his neck and he was pushed down onto the ground. He had landed in his mother's puke and he was doing his best not to look at it or smell it. "Y-yes sir...?" Tooru had asked quietly. The smell was getting to be too much and he had such a sensitive sense of smell already. His father was just asking for him to get sick himself. This wasn't going to be pretty.

"Do you see what I see? Look closely at your mother's discharge down there, tell me if you can see what I see," his father had said and Tooru wasn't sure what he was meant to be looking for, but the sight of the vomit on the floor was chunky and disgusting. His face was pushed closer to it and Tooru closed his eyes. He knew his dad wouldn't like that if he knew Tooru was closing his eyes, but that was what he was going to protect himself. "What do you see!"

There was really no getting around this and Tooru had to open his eyes. He held his breath and he tried his best to look through what he was seeing down there. It was disgusting and he knew that he was meant to look at the discharge his mother had produced, but he really didn't want to risk getting sick himself. This was cruel thing for his father to be doing and he really didn't know why he was doing this. "S-sir, I see vomit and it looked green and orange..." Tooru said and he turned his face, trying to get fresh air. It wasn't helping and he had started to gag in his mouth a bit.

His father sighed and pushed him down. It was disgusting and Tooru had slipped, landing in the puddle with a thug and he had gotten some on his face and his hair. Tears had started to prick in his eyes once again, and he was hoping his parents were okay with him showering later tonight. He needed to rinse the sick out of his hair and he really just wanted to be completely clean after this. "How can you not see that! Those chunks there, they look like the fish the two of you ate yesterday! I wish I had a smart son. I always wish I had a smart son, but it looks like I just don't have that, do I?" Mr. Oikawa had said and Tooru frowned, slowly pushing himself up and trying his best to cope with the idea that there was vomit all over him and on his skin. He just didn't want to swallow any of it.

"It smells like the fish we ate yesterday now that I think about it... I am sorry. Maybe it was bad..." Tooru said. He highly doubted it because he wasn't feeling sick at all today, but he knew what his parents' thinking about all of that would be. He would probably be told that this was his fault for not checking the fish before they ate it. His dad didn't have any, as it was their lunch and his dad had to go to work that day. But Tooru was feeling perfectly fine until he had been pushed into the pile of vomit his mother had left there.

His father was going to punish him and Tooru blamed himself for some reason, just because it was how his family had trained him. He should have known the fish was bad for his mother. He should have known this was going to happen. He didn't know, but he just wished that things could some how change for him. He just wished that things didn't have to be this damned hard all the time. "If she threw up and she's still feeling sick, don't you think it was bad fish? Jesus, Tooru. You're just not thinking tonight! I want you to scrub this entire floor tonight and use a wood polish on it afterwards. But I don't want you to just use the mop. You can use it, but you're going to scrub on your hands and knees tonight too."

When Tooru had heard all of that, he was regretting all of this and he was kicking himself mentally. Why had he given his mom the fish? Why didn't he realize it was bad fish? Tooru wanted to go and hurt himself so he could control the pain and expect it, but he knew his dad was going to punish him regardless. "Can I wash my hair first? And change so I can get these clothes washed? They're dirty now..." the brunet said and he looked up to his father, still gagging at the smell that was much closer now. It was because it was on his clothes and in his hair, but he was still gagging.

"No, Tooru. You're going to do it with the mess in your hair and on your clothes because you screwed up in the first place. You can do the laundry and shower after, but you're not getting out of scrubbing the floor. Help your mother up the stairs first," his dad said as he went to the kitchen and he went to see that Tooru had done all of the work in the kitchen. Tooru was surprised not to hear him yelling about the burger, but he knew it would come back to hurt him when he got back downstairs.

Tooru was surprised that his mother didn't say a word to him while he was helping her into bed. She had just fallen into bed and Tooro was smart enough to bring the bucket and glass of water with him. He set the glass of water on her nightstand and the bucket on the side of her bed. "The bucket is here... the water is on your table here, mom. Get some rest..." Tooru said, worried about her mood for the morning. He knew that learning from her wasn't going to be a pleasant experience for him tomorrow morning. He just hoped she was feeling better by the time she woke up so he could at least learn from her and get through these units.

After he had finished upstairs, he went downstairs and he listened to his father grumbling about the burger. Somethings were really out of his control though and Tooru honestly wished that his parents would understand things like that sometimes. His father went upstairs to go to bed and Tooru was left to clean up all of the vomit from the floor.

Earlier that month, Tooru had realized that there were much better lives than the one he was currently living in. He had been allowed to go to a competition for kids that were home schooled for some unknown reason and he had watched parents with their kids. None of them had laid a hand on them or pushed them around. One did get yelled at, but he wasn't yelled at for nearly as long or harshly as Tooru was used to. When he had gotten home, he had told Hajime about all of it.

The thing was though, Hajime had already known about all of that. He had told Tooru about the different types of parents that he witnessed at his school. Other kids his age were still in poor homes, but they weren't nearly as bad as the ones that Tooru and Hajime were in. They had learned that while other lives were still bad, the pair of them had it worse. It was still different for each of them, though. They would still rather live in the abuse they were currently living in than have to deal with the other abuse. Tooru would rather try to keep up with what his parents wanted than have to deal with Hajime's parents. Hajime would rather get yelled at for not living up to his parents' expectations but still get told what to do than have to guess what his parents wanted all the time. He also got a break from his parents every week day.

Tooru had decided that mopping up the mess on the floor was the best thing to do first, because he didn't want to risk getting sick on the floor even more than what was already there. He just wanted it to smell better before he started to scrub the floor on his knees. There was no getting around that process because some how, his dad always knew if he had actually scrubbed the floor. He had tried to get away with not scrubbing the floor one night, but his dad knew. Eventually, he finished and he went to go shower, not realizing that Hajime had woken up by now.

Things were not getting any easier and Hajime was sitting up in bed after realizing his ass was done bleeding and he went to go check the note Tooru had left for him. He wondered what had happened while he was asleep. Hajime listened to the downstairs to make sure that his parents were still eating happily and he wouldn't get in trouble for being awake, but if he was tired at school, the teachers would notice and get him in trouble too. Hajime knew how to fake his way through being awake at school though, so he wasn't too worried about that.

After reading through the note, Hajime wrote another one and he sent it back to Tooru. Usually, Tooru would grab it within a few seconds, but something wasn't right. Why wasn't his friend there to take the note? This was a bit concerning and the black-haired boy frowned, going towards the bathroom to clean up the disgusting feeling he had in his rear still. It was slimy and gross still, so Hajime wanted it to just go away.

Once in the bathroom, Hajime looked at himself in the mirror and he could still see the outlines of his mother's finger prints on his cheek. She had slapped him rather harshly when he yelped out in pain after his father had put that device inside him. He was just glad to be done bleeding and to get to sleep again. He didn't even care that he was going to bed without dinner. It wasn't the first time. Whatever they did to him, it exhausted him to death and he just wanted it to be over at this point. He wanted to fall asleep and wake up in the morning, feeling refreshed. He knew that his parents would probably still try to punish him that way, but it really wasn't pleasant at all.

It didn't take long for Hajime to start to cry. He let it out silently and he licked his lips, staring himself in the mirror. as he reached for a wash cloth. He let the cool water from the sink faucet run over the cloth and he brought the cloth up to his face. It was really just to relax him at this point, but he still wanted to try to soothe the skin that his mother was stressing while she was using that tool to yank on his hair. Eventually, Hajime had decided that he would run a shower so he could clean himself up.

This would probably surprise his parents and he wasn't sure how they would feel about him showering without their permission or without them knowing he was going to shower, but he really just wanted to feel clean again. He really didn't care anymore if his parents got upset with him. They were going to get mad at him either way. If he hadn't gotten himself clean, he was risking them getting mad at him for not cleaning himself up and risking getting blood on his clothes and sheets. Since he was cleaning himself now, they would likely get mad at him for not asking them if he could bathe. It was stupid, but he had to have their permission about everything.

Hajime sighed as he finished up in the bathroom and he grabbed the one towel that they allowed him to use. This was such a pain, but Hajime used toilet paper to make sure he was done bleeding now. Whatever had been inside of him had torn his insides to shreds and Hajime still felt like he was on fire. Not to worry, though. He would manage and although it was one of the worst pains he had felt, he would find a way to get through all of this. He always did.

When he went back into his room and got changed into pajamas, he looked to see that the note had actually disappeared. He smiled and thought about what he had said.

_I would honestly rather take the acid. At least i could figure out how long I would be in it. I had no idea how long my dad was going to keep doing what he was doing to me. It was so bad. I'm finally done bleeding though and hopefully I can keep them happy because I took a bath to wash away the stuff that could stain my blankets and sheets. I'm glad they gave up on the food thing, though. You're skinny enough as it is and you shouldn't be left without eating at your size. If you need me to do the food thing again, just let me know._

Tooru had sighed as he looked at the note. He was exhausted from cleaning up the floor. He had also decided to change the trash and clean out the microwave, just so his parents couldn't possibly yell at him more than they had already yelled at him. Although, Tooru wasn't so sure about that part. They could probably find more things to yell at him about.

He finished writing his note and pushed it through the hole. "I'm just glad you got a break, Hajime..." Tooru whispered as he went to sit down on the bed.

When the other boy got the note, he read through it and frowned. Wow, his dad sounded worse than his own right now. Although, he would prefer to take Tooru's punishment over what his dad had done to him. His nose wasn't as sensitive as Tooru's was.

_I am glad you're done bleeding. I wish they would do the acid thing to you again instead of whatever it is they are doing. It sounds super painful either way. A new thing happened tonight. My mother ended up getting sick before any of us had dinner and my dad blamed it on me. He thought it was the fish we had for lunch yesterday. But honestly? I don't feel sick at all and I ate the fish too. She probably just got the stomach bug some how. It really couldn't have been my fault. But my dad thought it was my fault because he thought the fish did it because here was still fish in her stomach from lunch yesterday. That was what was in the vomit. He pushed me down into it and I had to clean it all up and scrub all the floors, too..._

Hajime winced and shook his head out of the thoughts that were going through them. He hated Tooru's parents sometimes. How could it possibly have been the fish if Tooru ate the same fish and he wasn't feeling sick! His dad was obviously deluding himself and trying to find a way to blame this all on Tooru. That really just wasn't fair. Haijime didn't know how Tooru handled them sometimes, but Hajime would hate to be in Tooru's shoes. It just sounded to be worse than his parents and they were really the worst kind of parents he could get. It really wasn't up to him how they punished Hajime, but it was up to him how often he got punished.

They would continue to stretch their expectations for him and they would probably abuse him more and more the older he got, but Hajime was just trying to tolerate it for now. All he had to do was make it through six more years. In six years, he would be free. Possibly five years if he could get away with it, but it was going to be on his eighteenth birthday that he left for sure. Hajime knew it.

After writing his note, he pressed it to his forehead and sent it to Tooru, hoping the boy could feel the love and support he was ending through the note. Things had gotten so co-dependent for the two of them lately that each of them could just tell how much the other cared for them. They wouldn't want to imagine their lives without the other boy.

It didn't take long for Tooru to read the note and to reply back to his friend.

_I am so sorry, Tooru. That sounds absolutely miserable. If my parents had done that to me, I really don't know how I could have managed it. It just sounds so bad! The fact that you ate the fish and she's the only one that got sick tells me that she must have done something else to get sick like that. I wish your parents could realize that though. I'm really sorry that you have to go through all of this. I wish you the best of luck with tomorrow, too, since your mom is sick and you'll have to deal with her teaching you. Wish me luck on my test tomorrow? If I don't get a perfect score, I already know that my dad is going to do whatever he did to me tonight again and he will make it ten times more painful._

The two boys exchanged notes like this for a while and after an hour or so, they called it quits. Tooru was woken up to his dad yelling at him to scrub their floor because his mother had missed the bucked. Hajime was woken up to his father angry at him for using hot water to bathe in. He didn't know he was supposed to use cold water this time, so he was just thankful that the only punishment he received that night was a slap to the face.

When the boys had gotten through the week, they had just been thankful that things seemed to be settling down. Hajime had discovered that his dad wasn't using a device to hurt him, but the thing hurting him had been connected to his dad's body and he was using that to push inside of Hajime. It was his dad's penis and he had only learned the word from learning basic body parts in class. He didn't know that what his dad was doing was wrong, though, and he also didn't know that the name for it was rape. Incest rape, nonetheless. The more Hajime knew though, the better he felt, so he was just glad that things were starting to make more sense and Hajime could better prepare himself for the pain now that he knew how to handle the new punishment. He would eventually learn that what he was doing had been wrong, though.

Tooru's mother had discovered that it wasn't food poisoning that had gotten her sick and she had finally realized that she was sick because of a baby growing inside of her. His mother was pregnant and his parents were preparing for a baby in the house now. Tooru was praying they would treat this child differently than him, or they would just give this child up for adoption, because Tooru didn't want to have to worry about an infant while doing all of the chores he was already expected to do. But whatever his parents were planning on doing, Tooru just prayed to the heavens that he could handle this. 

Neither boy were really prepared for what would happen next in their lives, but they were as prepared for it as they possibly could be. They were both praying for this to just be over, though.


	5. Age Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry......

_Is he really that terrible to you? Why can't he give you a break? Even for our parents, stuff like this just isn't acceptable anymore. It's getting to the point where we need to find a way to tell the cops!_

_It really doesn't matter. The teachers at school don't care, or they threaten us when we try to tell the guards. I'm just waiting for the day I turn eighteen. Maybe I can find a way out sooner, but I'm still waiting for that day._

_I wish he wouldn't keep doing this to you. And the fact that your Mom is there helping and she has even used you and raped you herself! God, Hajime, I am so sorry. I really don't know how you deal with it. All I have to deal with is a moody mother who is pregnant and waiting to give birth. She's due in two weeks I guess. I just hope the new baby doesn't get treated the way I do._

It wasn't likely to happen, but Tooru really couldn't help but hope. He knew that hoping never really worked out the way he wanted it to. But hoping was really all he had at the moment. Tooru sent the note through the opening and he went back to doing his clothes folding. His mother had decided that he needed to go through all of his clothes and he needed to decide what he was going to keep and what was being given away to charity. He hadn't wanted to give away any of it, since he really didn't have more than eight full outfits. But his mother would get mad at him if he didn't make up his mind and give away at least two of his outfits.

Hajime sighed as he held onto his back with one hand and started to write another note to Tooru with his other hand. He wasn't sure when his dad would be back, but it had been an hour since Hajime was last raped. He had finally learned what the word was and what it meant. He had talked to a girl at school who had been through a similar experience and she knew all about it. She was now at an orphanage where Hajime wished he could get a pass to go to. It wasn't likely to happen, nor would his parents just willingly give him up so he can tattle on them, but Hajime had dreams of a better life sometimes. 

_I'm managing. I also hope your baby sister won't be treated the way you are. I hope she is treated with so much respect and kindness that it makes us jealous. Either that, or I hope your parents sell her or give her away to be adopted. Apparently babies are really likely to get adopted._

_You know what, Hajime? I always dream about getting out of here, or at least getting adopted. We could have it so much better than we do now! If those kids complain about living in an orphanage, they should really see how we live for once or before they go complaining. I know that they have it bad too, but they don't have it as bad as we do._

Tooru sighed as he finished the note and sent it. He knew that they really didn't have it that bad, compared to some of the other children of the world. But he knew that they really did have it pretty bad. He felt bad for thinking things like he had thought, but it was just the truth of the matter. He had it worse than kids in an orphanage. He had it worse than half of the kids in third world countries. Sure, he still had a life in a first world country, but it really wasn't much of a life.

Hajime read the note and he was about to start a second note when he heard his Dad coming back up the stairs. He scribbled a note really quickly and shoved it into the hole before going back to laying on his bed slowly. He knew it was time and he really wasn't excited. This was the type of torture and punishment they had decided was really good enough to stick with. His parents had decided that it was enough for now and that Hajime really hated it. He did really hate it and he wished he had realized sooner that if he had said he didn't care or didn't mind this punishment, they probably wouldn't keep doing it.

"I hope you're ready, boy. I've had a hard time with the garbage disposal and I'm ready to unload all of the stress onto you." Hajime held back a whimper, but this was honestly so torturous. He didn't know what god or higher power he had pissed off to receive this kind of abuse, but he started to think that he must have done something in a past life or just by being born to upset the Gods.

When Mr. Iwaizumi had come in alone, Hajime was really thrown off and he frowned a bit. "Oh... Is mom not joining this time?" he asked. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do, because Hajime's hair was yanked and he was thrown back down onto the bed. It wasn't so bad, but it had scared Hajime to the point that he had grabbed his dad's hand. Why couldn't he just be used to this already?

By the hole in the wall, Tooru was standing and listening to everything happening. He felt sickened by the things happening. He had been told by Hajime that it was wrong and that it really shouldn't have been happening at all, but there was nothing that Tooru could do about it and Tooru was super upset that he couldn't help his friend out.

He did take the time to read Hajime's note though, and it wasn't long at all.

_Dad's coming. I have to go..._

Nothing about this situation was a good instance or anything of the sort and Tooru knew that, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could focus on such things as Hajime getting raped again. He had to get back to his clothes, or his mother would yell at him. He didn't know if he could take being yelled at anymore by his moody mother that really didn't make sense anymore.

Tooru went back to picking through his clothes and he decided to give away a pair of his nicer pants and then a pair of his sweat pants. He picked out a long sleeved shirt to give up as well as a t-shirt and he went back towards the stairs, going down to be surprised with the voices happening at the moment. His mother was sitting on the couch with Hajime's mom... What was she doing here while her son was being raped like he was? He decided to bow out of politeness and he smiled sweetly to them before he settled the two outfits down in the box that they were giving away with their stuff. "Hajime really isn't doing too badly, but we're just sick of him trying to challenge authority. He says that he really isn't at fault for everything going on, but we don't completely believe him, to be completely fair. Why should we believe him? He is probably just trying to get out of the punishments."

The brunet wasn't sure that he was meant to be there for that conversation, but he figured that he would excuse himself to go start preparing for dinner. He had learned that if he had time, it was a good thing to start preparing dinner early so he didn't have to clean as much later on. But while Tooru was preparing dinner, he was trying not to listen to their conversation in the living room.

"No, I wouldn't believe him. The teachers are probably also at fault, but it's mostly Hajime trying to get away with stuff most likely," his mother said. Tooru sighed gently as he hummed and he went back to trying to prepare dinner. The thing was, there really wasn't much to prepare for dinner tonight, so he started to wash up the few dishes he could as he listened to what Hajime's mom had to say.

It really didn't take Tooru long at all and he just stood in the kitchen, waiting for something else to happen. "We're trying to get him to learn that challenging authority isn't good. We've been using sex as a tool and I believe his dad is over there right now, punishing him as we speak. We're trying to teach him that he needs to be submissive to authority figures. He needs to play by their rules and stop trying to get too smart. He needs to learn that he's not going to win. Why can't our son's just realize this by now and submit to what we want?"

Hearing what Hajime's mother had to say actually did frustrate Tooru a bit and he wanted to try to distract himself by cleaning something, but he wasn't sure how much more he could take of them. They were both submitting to what they wanted! Why couldn't they just not abuse them so much? Why was being hit and pushed around and forced to do things they didn't like doing something they had to go through? Tooru took a deep breath and decided to start trying to clean out underneath the oven, deciding that the few crumbs that were under there had been there for long enough. Usually, he wouldn't let any crumbs make a home on the floor, but he had been slipping up the last few days. At least his parents didn't notice. It was also underneath the stove, so they weren't likely to look there anyway.

When he heard his mother starting to speak, he wanted to run outside so he couldn't hear them talking, but he knew that running outside was not a good idea, so he tried to cover his ears. But he could still hear his mother. "I know. I've been trying to teach Tooru and I think he understands it, but he's just not cooperating as much as I would like him to. He'll learn that he can't get away with these types of things when he's older, though. It's only for their own good that we're doing this. I wish they would realize it. I think..." Oikawa looked up slowly when he heard his mother start to scream.

Tooru wasn't exactly sure what he should do at the moment. Should he go to his mom? Should he stay there? He really wasn't sure. But his mother was in pain and Tooru decided that he would go out to see if she was okay. Not that he cared that she was okay, but he wanted his baby sibling to be okay, regardless. "Mother? Do you need anything?" he asked as he came into the room.

"No, you idiot, go back to your room and stay quiet," Hajime's mom had said and she pointed towards the stairs. He felt a chill run up his spine, but he wasn't going to disobey her orders no matter what he had to think about all of this. He knew how cruel she could be, so he decided that going up to his room would be good. He heard more groaning and crying coming from the living room and Tooru let out a bit of a laugh from his own room, settling down on the bed. But that was when he realized that Hajime wasn't gone getting raped, because he heard the bed moving still from Hajime's room. 

The boy felt so lost at the moment and he really wasn't sure what he could do. He wanted to help out and make sure the baby was okay, and he also wanted to make sure Hajime was okay, but this was what he had to live with and he knew it. "Hajime... please be okay..." Tooru whispered and he laid himself down in his bed. 

The day had already been long enough and he had just decided that he had just had too much. He really wanted to find a way to release all of the pent up frustrations and anger he had inside, but there was really no way for him to let it all out. He had learned out from watching documentaries that some people who had depression and suicidal tendencies caused pain to themselves by cutting their arms or legs, or burning themselves to release their emotions and pain. He knew that they had a medical condition and he knew that it was their mind making them cause themselves pain, but Tooru was already receiving pain from his parents. He didn't think that that it would release any mental struggles for himself if he started harming himself, since he was already beat and hurt by his parents.

Curling up and laying on his side, Tooru closed his eyes and he started to cry to himself, knowing that tears weren't going to help one bit. But he really didn't have time to cry and his parents always told him that crying wasn't attractive or something like that. It wasn't like Tooru really cared if crying was unattractive or not, but he rarely got a chance to cry through all of the pain his parents put him through and everything else he had to go through, so it was his form of release. It was his way to get to get his emotions out and it just felt good. "H-Hajime... Please..." He stuttered out through his tears and he pressed the heel of his hand to his eye, trying to furiously wipe away his tears.

Tooru hadn't realized he had cried for so long. It had been probably a half hour and he had finally settled down, realizing things were just a little too quiet. His breathing was still in a destroyed state, he was still struggling with his strength, but he heard how quiet it had gotten in Hajime's room, so it seemed that things had finished up over there. It was also very quiet downstairs. That was very rare, since his parents usually stayed up talking. It wasn't time for bed, it wasn't the week they went out for date night, so what was going on?

Slowly sitting up seemed to be the best idea at the moment. But when he sat up, his eyes went straight to the hole in the wall. There was a note there and he had been too busy crying to hear that Hajime had sent him another letter. Usually, he could hear the scraping of the paper against the wall, but he had been crying too harshly to hear it this time, apparently.

Getting up, Tooru went to the wall and pulled the letter out, seeing that there was another on the ground. He read that one first because that meant that Hajime's first letter had fallen when he pushed the second one through.

_Sorry, today was really rough and apparently my dad had to take it out on me. I'm just done with being raped and abused like this. I would take anything else other than this. It's just so uncomfortable. Anyway, I hope you're doing okay._

_Come outside, Tooru. We're alone._

Seeing the second note made Tooru gasp and he didn't even have time to throw his shoes on. He would have, but he was just far too excited at the idea that they were alone for once! This never happened, so he couldn't let this opportunity pass him by. He could go see Hajime finally!

Tooru went down the stairs slowly. Even though Hajime had said they were alone and he really should have trusted the boy, he didn't know how long ago that was. Stepping down slowly, Tooru saw the living room, crept into the kitchen just to make sure, and once he saw he was actually alone, he let out a sigh of relief.

That was when the ideas started to run through his mind and he knew that thinking freely like this wasn't exactly safe for him. Tooru ran to the front door and stepped out onto the porch. He took in such a large breath of fresh air and he smiled, feeling tears of happiness start to prick in his eyes. He was free!

"Tooru," a voice said quietly and Tooru looked over to the connecting porch, that was only separated by half of a wall. He saw who it was and he gasped, going closer and smiling so brightly. The smile couldn't be any bigger and he really felt himself starting to have emotions he didn't know were possible. He didn't know happiness was something he was capable of feeling. "We're... alone," Hajime said. His voice was quiet and he sounded very hesitant to even say such a thing. But they were. Neither of their parents were there and it was very alarming to the two of them.

They had never been alone before. Not in their apartments, not in a store, not at school, never. This was just very unexpected for both of the boys and they really did have to wrap their head around this situation and decide what they were going to do about it. "We really are alone? Your parents aren't here? Do you have any idea where our parents went to?"

Hajime nodded and he took a breath. He very carefully hopped up over the half wall that was separating their two porches and he swung his legs over, smiling to Tooru. "Yeah. Your mom's water broke or something and they all went to the hospital to go deliver your sibling and support her or something. But we are alone and this is such a great opportunity. Do you understand, Tooru?" he asked, tilting his head a bit.

It really did take a moment for all of this to click and neither kid was exactly prepared. But the thing was, neither kid really cared. They were alone, and they both had one thing in mind. Get out.

"Yeah, I understand... So what are we doing here? Let's get our stuff and get out of here already!" Tooru said with a smile. He jumped up and down a little on his toes, feeling his emotions sky rocket and he was beyond thrilled to finally get away from these abusive people that called themselves his parents. But then, slowly, a different thought came to mind.

Hajime was grinning and he had gotten down onto his porch, before looking at Tooru, who's smile had disappeared. "What is it, Tooru?"

Looking up, Tooru frowned a bit and he took a breath. "If... If my parents don't give the baby up for adoption, I'll be abandoning my sibling to live a life of pain and torture like we live... Is that really fair? If I stay though, I can teach them how to live so the abuse isn't so bad..." Tooru was starting to think that maybe getting out wasn't the best plan, knowing that he could have a sibling on the way.

It was a very depressing thought, but neither boy wanted to think about someone else living the life that they had. It was the most horrendous thing. Hajime cleared his throat and frowned to Tooru as well, sighing a bit. "As much as you want to be your sibling's protector, we can't stay here. Maybe in a few years, we can come back though and get them free? When they are walking and talking a little?" Hajime suggested, his posture becoming more relaxed at the very moment.

Well, that was an idea, and they weren't going to treat the little child like dirt until they could actually think for themselves and do everything they needed to do for themselves. Tooru nodded slowly and he then looked up to Hajime. "Okay. Give me two minutes to go get some things and then we can leave," he said as he started to head back into the house. Hajime did the same thing and the boys were at a race against time at the moment to go gather everything they thought they might need.

All Hajime grabbed was clothes, shoes, a couple of snack bars that his mom liked to eat, and a bottle of water. Tooru, on the other hand, grabbed clothes, shoes, all of the notes that Hajime had sent to him, snacks, a couple of drinks, he had raided his parents' room and found some money, and he grabbed a couple of his dad's hats to he could try to hide who he was. Not that anyone really knew who he was, but he didn't want someone to recognize him and take him back to the apartment.

Each boy was back within five minutes and they stepped off of the porch, meeting each other and seeing each other fully for the first time in a while. "Okay, so I say we go down to the convenient store first and buy some bus tickets, and then we can get out of here," Tooru said as he showed Hajime all of the money.

That idea never even crossed Hajime's mind and he smiled to Tooru, glad that he had a smart friend. "My parents don't keep money in the house. I didn't think of that, though. That was smart," Hajime said as he nodded to Tooru. "Okay, so we go get bus tickets and we get as far away as we can?"

Tooru hummed for a minute. "No, we should probably save some of the money just in case we need something else. So we can get bus tickets just out of town far enough where no one will know us and then we can discuss what to do from there," Tooru said and he settled his backpack on his shoulder. It was the one he was given when he was eight, and his parents didn't want him getting rid of it in case he needed it when they went on another family trip. It was a good thing they hadn't made him get rid of it, simply because he needed it then. "Do you need anything else?" Tooru asked as he looked up to Hajime.

He hummed, but Hajime shook his head. "I'm good. What about you?," Hajime asked.

Tooru shook his head and he thought for a moment. "If we're going to try to frame them or get them in trouble, I think we should have our letters as like... proof or something. I mean, it's not much, but we can show them to the cops and hopefully get them to believe us," Tooru said and Hajime gasped, nodding.

Although, neither boy was ready to give up all of the notes. They wanted to hold onto them for memory-sake. But if they could turn their parents in, they would need those notes. Hajime ran back inside to grab his notes and he grabbed them so quickly. It took him a minute to grab them and he shoved a few of them into his bag where he could hide them, the others he kept in a container that he could turn over to the cops. He didn't want to get rid of all of them anyway. Hopefully the cops wouldn't need all of them.

Those letters were too important to both of the boys to give them all over. If it meant that their parents would get in trouble, though, they would do it in a heartbeat. Sure, they would want them back and they really had a sentimental meaning to both boys, but getting their parents in trouble was more important to both of them, and getting away from them was really just their collective dream. Neither of them would have thought that they would have had this chance. But if either boy had a chance to leave and the other didn't have the same chance, they wouldn't leave. They couldn't leave their best friend.

They really didn't know that they were best friends, because they hadn't really focused on personal relationships of the sort yet, but they knew that they meant enough to each other that they just couldn't abandon one another. Oikawa looked over at Hajime when he came back outside and he had a small smile on his face. "Are you ready?" Tooru asked, shoving the money in his pocket. Hajime nodded and he looked at Tooru before the pair started to walk.

They didn't want to get there slowly, but they didn't know what the rush was. Their parents wouldn't be back for some time now, so they could take a bit of time to get out of there. They didn't have to rush. "Where should we go?" Tooru asked as he walked closely to Hajime.

Hajime flinched a bit when he felt Tooru's arm rub against his own, rather jumpy about being touched, even by his best friend. He really didn't think he could tolerate being touched, no matter who it was. Maybe someday he would get over it, but today was not that day. "I don't know. Just... far enough away that our parents won't find us?" Hajime suggested as he looked at Tooru once again. Tooru seemed to understand immediately that bumping into him, even for that second, couldn't happen again. Hajime very greatly appreciated that.

Once Tooru heard what Hajime said, he nodded and he didn't know if he could buy a bus ticket at the convenient store. But he was going to try, that was for sure. If not, he could just ask the clerk where he could get a bus ticket. This was going to be the tricky part, though, as the people in the convenient store knew him and he really didn't want to be recognized. "Does anyone know you at the convenient mart? My parents make me go there and they know me. I'm pretty sure they have a deal with my parents, too, so it might not be a good idea if I go in and ask questions."

It took Hajime a moment to realize what Tooru was asking and he hummed a bit. "No, I don't believe they know me. Maybe it's a bad idea for us to come here though? Maybe we should walk to a different place where no one will recognize us.”

They stood outside of the convenient store for a few moments before Oikawa nodded and he adjusted his backpack. He let out a bit of a yawn, not realizing just how tired he was and just how energy-consuming the whole crying thing had been. But he didn’t have time to slow down and he really couldn’t afford to be tired. They were getting away!

The pair started to walk, although Oikawa wasn’t exactly sure where they were going. He had only been to the convenient store, the doctor’s office with his parents, and the grocery store with his mother. He knew that Hajime went other places occasionally, just because he left for school and his mom took him place. He remembered Hajime telling him about many times he went to school things and got in trouble for not really doing anything wrong, but he just wasn’t good enough for his parents or something. It was disturbing to say the least.

“Thank you for coming with me,” Hajime said quietly and he looked over at Oikawa as they continued walking. He knew that Oikawa really didn’t have to come with him and could have stayed behind to protect his sister. But he did come with Hajime, and that was really such an important thing. He didn’t have support anywhere else in his life, other than the occasional student at school. But Oikawa didn’t have support either, so Hajime would be there for him to support him no matter what they went through.

Oikawa looked up and he gave a smile, nodding to Hajime. “It wasn’t like I was going to let you go alone, silly. I know that my baby sibling might suffer if they don’t give it up for adoption, but I’ve had enough of being treated like shit by my parents. I’m sure you’ve had it, too,” Oikawa said and he looked at the road they were walking along.

The pair crossed the road, watching for traffic before they crossed. They had common sense, so they really didn’t want to get hit or hurt before they had finally escaped. Hajime had let out a bit of a groan and he reached back to his back, rubbing it. Oikawa felt so terrible for him, giving him a look of sadness and pity. “It hurts, doesn’t it?” Oikawa asked, watching Hajime rub at his back. He wasn’t sure why it hurt, but he knew it probably had to do with his dad raping the boy.

“Yeah, he used a whip while he raped me this time and some of the marks started bleeding. They probably aren’t done bleeding, but I have bandages on my back. Hopefully it’s good enough,” Hajime said as he smiled ahead at the lights and street. “Hey, it looks like there might be a store to buy bus tickets somewhere around here.”

The brunet looked around and saw different shops and so many different things. This was a very exciting experience for the pair of them, simply because they were getting closer and closer to their hopeful freedom. Who would know them here? Tooru didn’t know, and he really didn’t care at the moment, just because he was so enamored with everything around him. He had never seen so much excitement.

As they walked, Hajime had watched a family come out of a building. It was a restaurant and Hajime had never been to one, although he knew his parents went sometimes and left him home. He knew that they told Tooru’s parents he was home alone though, so he never dared to run then. They would know and Hajime would be in loads of trouble. He didn’t want to risk it.

Once the family was outside fully, both of the runaways looked at the family in a bit of confusion. The youngest son was being carried on his mother’s shoulders, the other boy was holding her hand and they were talking very animatedly. The dad and the daughter, who was around their same age, were chatting and the boys overheard bits of the conversation.

“Honey, you tried your best. Don’t worry about that grade, okay? It’s only one C and it was only one silly test!” the dad said.

“Yeah, but I should have studied harder. I just want to make you and mom proud,” the daughter said. They were still walking, so Oikawa and Iwaizumi walked after them, trying not to seem suspicious.

The family was waiting at a crosswalk. “You are already making us so proud, darling. You just worry about your audition for the school play, okay? I’m so glad you want to continue your singing and acting. We are so proud of you for that!” The dad had reached his arm around her and gave her a half hug, which the daughter leaned her head closer to him for.

Tooru and Hajime were very confused. What was this life? Why were the parents treating their kids so nicely? Even the mom was laughing with the young boys and swinging hands with the one while bouncing with the youngest one. It was a very odd sight to see. Neither boy felt comfortable seeing this all unfold and their hearts began to ache. As they walked, they passed more families. One dad was carrying a son that was crying and he was trying to comfort him. Another family was laughing at a street performer. This was not what either boy was used to at all.

“Hajime…Why can’t our parents be like them? Why did we have to get stuck with the gross parents?” Tooru asked and he crossed his arms, revealing that he had been sniffling a bit.

It took Hajime a moment to answer because he was rubbing the tears out of his eyes. “I don’t know,” he said, wondering why he was getting so emotional.

“Did you know that other kids were treated like this? I would have gone my whole life content with not knowing that other kids were treated so nicely…” Tooru said, walking slower so he could try to separate from the family ahead of them. Their son was wearing some sort of special jersey. It was meant to be for a sport of some sort, and the family was all congratulating him. If Tooru had to hear one more ‘I’m proud of you’ or anything like it, he was sure he was going to be sick.

They then walked by a park, where there were kids their age without parents around. Some of them were playing a game and Tooru was very curious. He wanted to play the game, too, but he knew that they were still trying to get out of there. “Come on, Tooru,” Hajime had said, waiting for him patiently. Tooru had the money, so he was counting on the boy to get them both bus passes so they could leave and never come back.

When Tooru tried to pull away, though, one of the kids had looked up to him. They were in a fenced in basketball court and he looked up to see the kid nodding to him. “Do you and your friend want to play? We’re short a few people,” the guy had said.

It was a very tempting offer and Tooru was super curious. But at the same time, neither of them knew how to play basketball. Hajime had a little bit of sport experience from school, as he was forced to run around with the other kids and get some sort of physical activity in, but it was never an actual sport or game they played. Tooru had read about it in one of his school books, but he had never actually held a basketball before. “Uhh…” 

Hajime sighed and he licked his lips. “Maybe we can stay for a little while. I just want to make sure we get those passes,” he said quietly and he looked over to the guy. “We don’t know how to join in or how to play. Is it easy to learn?” Hajime asked, stepping closer to the fence.

The guy opened up the fence gate. It wasn’t locked and he smiled to the boys, holding up the round ball. It was orange and it had an interesting pattern on it. Tooru was handed the ball and he took it, balancing it in his hands. “Yeah, it’s pretty easy. You just have to bounce the ball, usually one handed, and you have to bounce it every time you take a couple of steps. You can hold it, but you can’t move unless you’re bouncing the ball. We’re trying to make the teams four against four. You two can split up and one of you will be on my team, the other will be on the other-”

When the guy had said that, Tooru had dropped the ball and stepped away. “I can’t play against Hajime. I won’t. I’m sorry. We can watch, but I don’t want to play if I have to play against him,” Tooru said, wrapping his arms around himself and he looked rather sad about this entire situation. Hajime was thrown off, but he also was rather uncomfortable going against Tooru, so it was probably a good idea that Tooru had said something and they were no longer obligated to play. 

They never were obligated, but they both felt that way. “That’s cool. You two can be on the same team if you’d rather. I just thought it would be fairer if we split you up, since neither of you know how to play.”

Hajime sighed and shook his head. “You know, thank you, but I think we’d be best to go on and do what we were meant to be doing,” Hajime said and Tooru nodded. He picked up the ball and handed it back to the guy, still stepping away. “We’ll take our leave now,” Hajime had said and he started to turn back towards the path they were walking on.

As much as they wanted to play, they really didn’t have time to be wasting. Neither boy wanted to stick around and have to deal with the wrath of their parents. Sure, they wanted to have the experience that other kids got to have every day. They also wanted to try this ‘having fun’ thing, try to enjoy some time with other kids their age. But they really didn’t know how they were supposed to have fun. They had never tried, they never learned, and it was rather intimidating to them. They had only lived one life and they didn’t know how to live a better one at the moment.

Tooru let out a sigh and he rubbed his arm a bit. “I wanted to play, but I really… I don’t want to play against you. We are a team, aren’t we?” Tooru asked as he looked up to Hajime.

There was a light breeze and the boys continued to walk, talking amongst themselves. “Yeah, we’re a team. Once we get out of here, we will have time to play games and we will find a group that won’t make us split up. We shouldn’t have to split if we don’t want to,” Hajime said. As they walked, they looked towards the police station and Hajime would have gone in to start explaining that their parents were abusing them and that they were on the run, but he really just wanted to get as far away as they could and he wanted Tooru to do the same.

They had finally made it to a shop of some sort and Hajime walked up to the counter, where a girl was looking at a magazine and she was laughing a bit. “Oh, I’m sorry. What can I do for you?” she asked as she looked down at Hajime and Tooru. They looked at each other and they then turned to look back up at the girl, who was chewing something in her mouth.

“Do you have bus passes?” Hajime asked, and out of instinct, he stepped in front of Tooru just a bit. It was a precautionary measure and he didn’t know what was so scary or intimidating about asking the lady about bus tickets, but he really just wanted to protect Tooru. If anything happened to him, Hajime didn’t think he could forgive himself.

The girl gave them a confused look and she shook her head slowly. “No, you can go to the office of transportation though. They have bus passes,” she said and Hajime looked back to Tooru, who had let out a sigh. This wasn’t what they wanted to hear.

“Where is that office?” Tooru asked quietly and the girl looked out towards the window.

That was when she reached for a map and she handed it to the boys. “Here, keep it. That shows the whole city and you can get to the office by following the directions,” she said as she adjusted her hair a bit. “Do you boys need anything else?” she asked and she smiled down to them.

Hajime shook his head. “Thank you so much, miss. We appreciate everything you’ve done for us,” he said and the boys slowly walked out of the store. There were a few people in the shop that were talking and Hajime felt like he had a pair of eyes on him, but he didn’t know where that feeling was coming from. “Okay, so do you know how to read a map?” he asked as he pulled the flier out and handed it to Tooru to look over.

The boy nodded and he walked towards a street sign so he could figure out where they were. “Okay, so we are… here, and we need to get over here. It’s only a few blocks away,” Tooru said as he held it up and showed Hajime what they had to do. Hajime looked puzzled, but he nodded gently and he rubbed his back once more.

The only thing the boys could really do was trust one another, so Hajime had to trust Tooru so they could get out of here.

When they started to walk, Tooru nearly walked out onto the street when a car was coming, but Hajime pulled him back just in time, so keep him from getting hit by a car. They really did have each other’s backs and they wished they could have protected one another a little more when they were back home. “Th-thanks, Hajime,” Tooru said as he looked down, looking ashamed for that even happening.

“I care about you, so of course I’m going to keep you out of harm’s way,” Hajime said as they waited for an opportunity to cross the street. They waited a while, since it was a busy street. “Can you believe that we’re actually getting out of here?” Hajime asked.

There was a noise from behind them that sounded like someone cleared their throat. Both boys had flinched because they were used to that noise coming from their parents and it was usually when they were about to be hit or grabbed. “Are you sure you’re going get out of here?” the voice has asked. They turned around and looked up.

The voice was coming from a police officer and he had put his hands on his hips, making himself look rather intimidating. Granted, many things were intimidating to Hajime and Tooru. “We’re just going to buy bus passes, sir. Yes, we are going to get out of here,” Hajime said and Tooru nodded. The boys looked at each other once more before looking back at the man.

“I don’t think either of you are going anywhere. I’m going to ask you to come with me,” the man had said and he motioned behind himself, pointing to a police vehicle. “You’ll be coming down town with me to the station. I don’t believe your parents would appreciate you two leaving town,” he said.

The boys sighed and they frowned. This was honestly one of the worst things that could have happened, although, just maybe they could show that their parents really were abusing them. Maybe they could get the law on their side and get away for good. But then something dawned on Hajime and it was not something good to realize. Granted, he was used to things not going his way, but this was a new one. Was everyone against them?

What Hajime had realized was that they weren't causing any issues, nor were they bringing attention to themselves. So why did a police officer want to speak to them and why did he care that they were walking in the streets? This was not going to end well, he had a feeling, but all he could do was fight for this. He could try his best to get them out of there and he really wanted to just get away from his parents, but honestly, if he could get away from all of it, that would be the best thing.

Once they were settled in the police cruiser, Hajime looked over at Tooru and he frowned a little bit. "Tooru, I have a bad feeling about this..." he said quietly. Tooru looked over and he gave Hajime a confused look.

"We can just show him the letters and all the proof we have! We can get them in trouble and show them why we were running and why they aren't good parents!" Tooru said, looking very determined. Honestly, that was something about the boy that Hajime adored. He was always so determined to get things done and to accomplish something. It was such an awesome quality to have and Hajime wished he had the same drive that Tooru had sometimes.

But Hajime was trying his best not to shatter Tooru's dreams about all of this. He knew that Tooru had hope and well, Hajime wanted to hope too, but he really didn't think this was going to go like they wanted to. "I don't want to break your spirit, but... I have a bad feeling because there was no reason for this cop to pick us up, since we weren't doing anything suspicious or against the law..." he said, frowning a bit. This was really a terrible situation to be in, but Hajime was just being realistic here. He wanted things to work out, but he had learned to always expect the worst in a situation. That was, he was never let down.

They pulled into the station and they waited for the officer to tell them to get out. "Hajime, even if we don't get out of here, we'll still be friends, right?"

That question caught Hajime off guard and it hit him like a bullet. What would give Tooru the impression that he didn't want to be friends anymore? Tooru was his only friend and unless there was someone that Hajime didn't know about, he was pretty sure that he was Tooru's only friend too. "Yeah, we can. We can just go back to how it was. I'm sorry if this doesn't go like we want it to," Hajime said as they got out of the vehicle.

They walked in after the officer and honestly, the station was meant to be a little more intimidating than their homes, but it was actually more inviting and they felt comfort there. At least, Hajime did. He would rather be in the station than be in his own house. "So, boys, you can sit down over there while I call your pa-"

"Sir, we have some things to tell you. Yes, we were trying to leave home and we were trying our best to go to a different city, but there's a really good reason for that," Tooru had said as he looked up at the man. "Can we try to explain, please?"

When Tooru had asked that, Hajime was hopeful, but the officer let out a bit of a laugh. "I thought the lady that called you two in was making it up, but she was right. You two will try to lie your way out of anything, huh?" he had said. Both of their hearts began to shatter right then and they both let out a collective sigh.

It wasn't in Tooru's blood to argue back and he bowed his head. "I wasn't lying, but I will go sit down now," he said sadly and he looked over to Hajime. That was when both of the boys felt the tears prick in their eyes and they felt that their lives were honestly just completely over. They didn't have a lot of fight left in them and they were going to go home and get beat probably more violently than usual.

Finally, the boys went to go sit down in the chair and they looked at each other. "We can try again, Tooru. It won't be the last time. We will get away from them," Hajime said.

Tooru curled up in the chair and he sniffled a bit, looking at Hajime and nodding. They were miserable and everyone around them seemed to be against them. They was exactly why they wanted to get away, somewhere they could be more supported and where they would actually be believed.

They sat there for a while when the boys looked up to see that Hajime's dad had walked into the station, displaying a look that Hajime knew was fake. Underneath his faked worried look, he knew that his dad was furious and they would get beat for this. Hajime just hoped that his dad didn't treat Tooru the way that he was treated. He didn't need Tooru to get raped as well. "Boys, oh my goodness! I am so glad to see you two! Tooru, your mother would be worried sick if she knew about this. I didn't tell your parents because things at the hospital are getting a little complicated. But I will get you both home and watch over you now. Thank you so much, officer," Mr. Iwaizumi said and they sighed as they stood up, going to stand next to him.

"Yes, thank you sir," Tooru had said with such a sad tone to his voice. Hajime bowed in fake gratitude, so his dad wouldn't yell at him for being ungrateful to an authority figure.

When they stepped out of the station and the boys went towards the car, Mr. Iwaizumi grabbed the back of Hajime's neck and he bowed down. "Neither of you are getting off easy tonight. You're both getting the whip and paddle tonight. And because you two made me leave the hospital, it will be double the amount," he said.

Would either of these boys ever get freedom?

They didn't know, but they knew that they would be expecting to be on lock down for at least a month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ........ Really, I am beyond sorry.... Please forgive me?


	6. Age Thirteen pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a continuation of the last chapter. I couldn't leave it like that.

It had been a very eventful evening for the two boys, neither of which entirely knew what was going to happen next. The pair were brought to the hospital and were told to come inside with Hajime's dad while he talked to the staff and asked them questions and told them information about where he was going. Apparently, he had planned on going home with the boys to punish them accordingly.

This was something that Hajime had been nervous about. He knew his dad said that they were getting the whip and the paddle, but what if he had changed his mind? What if he decided to rape them both? What Tooru had to experience what Hajime had to go through every day just about?

Or worse... What if Tooru had to watch Hajime getting raped in front of him without being able to do anything?

The boys were ushered back to the car and Hajime was very scared. But he knew that if he opened his mouth, the punishment would be worse. If he tried to talk to Tooru, he would be punished like crazy. There was no way to get out of the punishment they were about to receive. It was a shame to think that just an hour ago, they were ready to make a run for it and get away from this hell. But now Hajime had learned the error of his mistakes. He knew to never think that he could get out again when something like this happened.

Hajime glanced over to Tooru as the car was in motion, and the sight he had met was a sight he never wanted to see again. Tooru had tears running down his cheeks and there was absolutely nothing that Hajime could do about it. He couldn't touch him, he couldn't offer him words of encouragement, and they weren't in their rooms, so he couldn't write to him to make sure he was okay. There was nothing he could to and that was extremely upsetting to the young boy.

By car, the distance felt much shorter, as they were home in only a few minutes. Hajime's dad unlocked the door and slammed his own once getting out. Hajime knew better than to try to get out though, so he waited for the door to be opened by his dad. It happened, and Hajime felt a hand on his scalp, pulling up and attempting to get him to move. It was successful, as Hajime went with the pulling of the hand, but it was still an uncomfortable sensation. "You come along too, boy. We're going inside," Mr. Iwaizumi had said rather intensely.

After a few years of being pulled inside by the hair, Hajime would have thought he would have been used to it. But as the years went on, he realized that the more difficult it became because of how tall he was growing and the longer his parents liked to keep his hair. He didn't get to choose the length, since his mother usually cut his hair off the length that she liked it at, so there was no way to change this.

Pushing Hajime inside, Mr. Iwaizumi turned to Tooru and grabbed him by the elbow and pushed him inside as well, making him stumble to the ground, since he wasn't accustomed to the strength of these arms. "I'll let you boys pick. Paddling first, or whipping first?"

Both boys stood up once Tooru was back on his feet again and they each looked at the man standing in front of him. Tooru bowed his head first and Hajime wondered why he hadn't done the same, but the more abuse he could take from his father, the better. "May I speak?" Tooru asked in a voice that was loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to be considered disrespectful. With a sound of confirmation, Tooru received his answer. "I would like to do whatever punishment you would like to give to us first, as I do not want to displease you any further."

That answer was something very smart and Hajime wondered if he had said it, he would have gotten the same response. But there was no way that Hajime would have offered to do whichever his parents wanted to do first anyway. Although, coming from Tooru, it sounded more intelligent. "Very wise. I was going to choose anyway, regardless of what you two boys picked. So I'm going to use the whip first," the man said as Hajime slowly got onto the ground and pulled down his jeans. Tooru slowly did the same and he really didn't want to push his luck here. He knew that he would receive further punishment later, so he didn't want to get in further trouble.

Each boy had crouched down and were awaiting the whip. They got the whip, and then each boy also received the paddle. Mr. Iwaizumi seemed pleased with his work, as both boys' butts were cracked and bleeding by the time he was done. He was also seemed to speed through it so he could step outside, smoke a cigarette and get on the phone with Hajime's mother.

Once they were left alone in the apartment, Hajime looked over to Tooru. "H-hey... I'm sorry I thought it was a good idea to get out of here and try to run. I should have thought more clearly about all of this..." Hajime said quietly. He didn't want to risk his dad hearing them communicate.

"I-it was a good idea and we were very close, but I guess we should have thought this thing through first. W-we could have made it... we should have made it now that I think about it," Tooru said as he closed his eyes. Hajime wished he could have done something to help relax Tooru, because he could see that the boy was starting to cry again.

It was a small action and it was something that Hajime had seen some of the other kids do in school when one of them was scared or when they were hurt. Slowly but surely, Hajime reached his hand out and he settled it on the floor between their bodies where they were laying. He wasn't sure if Tooru would understand, nor was he sure it would really help, but it was something that he was more than willing to try if it could comfort the boy at all.

The thing was, Tooru did understand. He had been reading more about biology lately and he had read that it was a natural response to seek human touch when in emotional pain. Not that Tooru really understood, because almost all of the human touch he had ever had usually caused the pain, but now he understood. Reaching out and slowly raising his own hand, Tooru settled his hand on Hajime's gently. The other boy flinched very gently, but it was enough the get Tooru to worry. "It's okay if you aren't comfortable..." he whispered, but Hajime tightened his hand a little.

Tooru did the same. "We will get out of here some day. We just have to wait a little longer," Hajime said as he looked over to Tooru, trying his best to hold back his own tears. Tooru's crying made Hajime want to cry, but he was just used to having to hold his tears back, since his tears usually made him look like he was weak, at least in his parents' eyes.

"How did we even get caught?" Tooru asked, which was a very good question. No one should have recognized them. Hajime really couldn't explain the feeling, but he had a feeling it had something to do with the store they got the map in. Maybe there was someone inside that knew one of them and they called the cops. Or maybe it was the checkout clerk that gave them the map?

Hajime heard the door open and he pulled his hand away from Tooru very quickly, trying his best to act natural. It sounded like his dad was still on the phone, but neither of them wanted to risk talking and get in more trouble. "Yeah, I'm glad she called the cops too. We got our boys back, so we don't have to worry anymore. Let them know that I punished Tooru as well. I'm sure they'll have their own punishment, but I can do more if they request it," the man said as he stepped closer to the boys.

After a few more moments of chatting, he was off the phone and he cleared his throat. "As much as I want to take my frustration out on you boys, Tooru's mother is still struggling giving birth and I need to stay available to check on my phone. So I guess I am giving you boys a bit of a break. Hajime, go upstairs and get ready for bed. Tooru, you can clean yourself up in the kitchen and stay down here with me."

The boys felt such a sting in their heart, being told they had to separate, but they knew it would be worse if they protested. Tooru very slowly got to his feet and he bowed his head. "Permission to speak again?" Once again, he was given a vocal confirmation and he stood up straight. "Tonight was actually shower night for myself and my parents will be more than upset if I skip my shower. Is it possible that I can take a shower here? I don't have to, but they will know that I haven't showered, since I won't smell like body soap."

Mr. Iwaizumi hummed and he crossed his arms. "Sure, but you will have to use some of Hajime's time, because he is only allowed ten minute showers lately. However much time he wants to give up, I will give you that time to shower. You better hope he is generous, boy," Tooru was told and he nodded, bowing his head once more.

After standing, Hajime took Tooru upstairs and he stood in the bathroom, shaking and breathing in rather heavily. He closed the door and he took shaky steps to the shower, starting the water. "I-I will move as fast as I can, but I was whipped both tonight and this morning, so I'm sure most of those sores were opened back up..." Hajime said as he turned to Tooru who was already taking his clothing off.

"You know what? He doesn't have to know what happens up here. As long as we are done in ten minutes, it doesn't matter what happens right?" Tooru asked as he came closer to Hajime, smiling a little. "Why don't we just... shower together?" Tooru asked.

That was a thought that really hadn't crossed Hajime's mind and he wondered if they could really get away with it. He figured that if they were caught, Hajime would take the blame and get told that he wasn't allowed to take an easy way out, but his dad was likely to be too busy to notice anyway. "I mean, I guess we can... yeah. Okay, let's get in and do this quickly," Hajime said as he felt the water. It was warm. Not hot, because he didn't think his body could handle hot water at the moment, but it was warm enough to soothe his aching back.

Standing aside, Tooru climbed into the shower as well. They both stood under the water stream and Hajime slowly reached out, touching Tooru's arm and giving him a shaky smile. "At least w-we're both alive," he said.

It wasn't until Hajime had said that, it wasn't until Hajime had brought up that fact, that Tooru had saw the severity of the situation and he started to crumble underneath the unbelievable pressure of everything going on. He felt his chest start to tighten and he started to cover his face, trying to hide it from Hajime because he didn't want to show him that he was weak. He couldn't show Hajime that he was weak. "We are... ye-yeah..." he said.

It was instinctual, but Hajime had also witnessed people from the same orphanage put their arms around one another and hold them closely. Hajime knew it was called a hug, but he didn't really know that it was meant to be an action of reassurance and comforting in this context. Either way, Hajime took a chance and he reached out for Tooru, slowly and surely pulling the boy against him. The movement was kind and gentle, so there was no need to be frightened. But regardless, Tooru trusted Hajime, so he let himself be pulled against Hajime and he felt his body start to mold into his.

They each breathed in and they could feel one another completely. "We will make it through this," Hajime said quietly. He stood there for another minute or so and he finally tried to pull back. Tooru wasn't quite ready to let go, though, so he held onto Hajime for a moment longer. He did eventually let go, though. He sniffled a bit and he smiled to Hajime, who smiled in return. "We should get showered, since we don't have a lot of time left."

"Yeah, we should. What do you do first? I can do the other so we can switch when we are done," Tooru suggested.

Hajime reached for the body soap and handed it to Tooru, then he started to wash his hair.

Each boy washed their hair and bodies quickly, rinsing off and making sure they weren't bleeding anymore before going to get dried and changed. Tooru realized he had left his bag downstairs in the car and Hajime frowned. But he sighed and he brought Tooru into his room. The two boys sat on his bed, drying themselves and Hajime stood up slowly, going to his dresser to get out some sleep clothing. He also took out a pair of sleep clothing that Tooru could use and he was sure his parents would make him give the outfit back eventually. But it really didn't matter to Hajime if Tooru kept that set of clothes. He knew that Tooru was being told to get rid of clothing anyway, so maybe it would help Tooru out a bit.

Once they were both dressed, Hajime had to think for a moment and he sighed. "So normally, I would go downstairs to wait for more instruction, but I think he might be too preoccupied with hearing about your mom, so I don't want to annoy him. I think we should stay here and try to get some rest," Hajime said as he slowly went to his light switch. "You can sleep in my bed with me."

Neither boy knew if that was an okay thing to do, but they had to think that it wasn't going to much matter if they did go downstairs. They were both going to be doomed to their parents' individual torture anyway when they did finally get separated. Tooru laid down on the edge of the bed and he felt himself jerk a bit when the light was turned off, but he wasn't too terribly worried about any of this right now. It was just good to be with someone that actually cared. It felt nice to be safe for once, even if it was only for a little while.

Once Hajime got into bed, he shuffled onto his side and looked over at Oikawa, giving him a nod. "We can get through this, you know. We're going to come out alive and stronger than ever," Hajime said. The boy yawned after the fact and he blinked slowly, as if the exhaustion was actually taking him over.

Tooru smiled a bit and he could feel this exhaustion start to take him over too. He was lucky to even be awake now, but he wanted to see Hajime for as long as he could. "You know what? We might not get the chance to be next to one another soon. That's a sad thought, but I'm glad I get the chance to be next to you," Tooru said quietly as he pushed himself just a little closer to Hajime. He knew that Hajime wouldn't like being touched probably, so he made sure that he wasn't touching Hajime when he moved closer. He just wanted Hajime as close as he could be, for as long as they had the chance to be together. Tooru would be sad when they had to be separated.

"I'm glad I get this chance too," Hajime said and Tooru felt his wrist get touched by warm, soft skin. It was Hajime's hand and the two boys went back to holding hands. That was all they did, but it was just a very comforting thing for the two of them to experience. They had never had someone close enough to hold onto before, or at least that wanted them to.

After a few moments, their eyes started to drift close and they each felt the exhaustion completely consume them and take them under. They were finally asleep.

It didn't last long, but at least they had both gotten two hours of sleep before they were woken up abruptly by shouting and loud crashing down the stairs. Hajime woke up to the first crash and banging noise. He was about to wake Tooru when he heard another crash down the stairs and that noise ended up waking Tooru up regardless. The two boys laid there, hand in hand, and they were very confused about what was going on. Neither of them particularly wanted to go investigate, but both of them wanted to know what was happening. "Is your dad... i-is he angry...?" Tooru asked quietly.

Hajime shrugged his shoulders and he sat himself up, rubbing his eyes from the tired and sleep that was present in his eyes. "Who knows, really. He might be, so I can go down and see what he's throwing things for. I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire, though. So please stay here," Hajime said as he slid off of his bed and stood up. He was just so done with today. He wanted it all to be over. But he knew it wasn't going to be over for quite sometime now. It wasn't likely to be over until his eighteenth birthday, when he was finally an adult and his parents couldn't stop him from leaving.

That was one thing that Hajime would have to figure out, though. Once he turned eighteen, he wondered if Tooru would already be eighteen, or if he would have to wait until Tooru turned eighteen so they could both legally leave.

Regardless, he was still stuck in a house with abusive parents until he could find a way out. It wasn't ideal, but he was used to it by now. Hajime sighed as he climbed silently down the stairs, sitting on the bottom step to listen in on the quiet conversation his dad was having in the living room. "I want to come in, but I don't think bringing the boys in is really the best idea. Unless you want them running away and the hospital questioning why they are all bruised up from their beating."

Taking a silent breath, Hajime continued to listen. "Yes, babe. I am glad we got them back too. I'm just glad that Hajime was spotted by one of the school teachers in time. They were on their way to go get bus tickets and they would have been successful. We have to bake her something. But regardless, I am so sorry to hear that she is having a stillborn."

When hearing that, Hajime made a face and he wondered just what that meant. He knew he had heard the term when they were learning about science and biology, but he wasn't quite sure what it meant at the moment. It was probably something bad, though. Hajime couldn't imagine his dad was throwing things and breaking stuff if he had been in a good mood. He never knew, but he really didn't think that was the case. He did hear the bit about a school teacher of his spotting them and that told Hajime that if they ever tried it again, he would make sure they were so far out of town when they bought bus tickets that no one would ever recognize them. But it was a little too late for this thought now. He wasn't likely to get a chance to run anytime soon. Hell, he probably wouldn't be allowed out of the house for a while. 

He was going to be locked up, most likely, and his parents wouldn't allow him to get out of the house. They would just pull some stunt with the school and blame him for missing anyway. Not that the school really cared, anyway. He was ahead in his studies and he was in the top class of his school. They had to do things to occupy him, just because they weren't going to create a new class level just for him. The kids that were in his class currently could hardly everything that he was meant to be learning. They failed half of the tests when he got near perfect marks. He was smart and he knew it.

After another minute of hearing his dad talking, the silence filled the air and the phone call seemed to be over. Slowly standing up and creeping back up the stairs, he went back to his room to go fill Tooru in about what he had heard. He snuck back in his room and sat on the bed next to Tooru, who was already sitting up. "So? Any idea what's happened?" Tooru asked, displaying an innocent form of curiosity.

"Yeah, I learned two things from listening to him. One, I know who called the cops on us. It was one of my school teachers. I don't know which one, but it was one of them. Two, it seems he is upset about hearing news about your mom. Apparently the baby was... stillborn?" Hajime said, biting his lip and looking at Tooru to see if he knew what the word meant. "I know it's something bad..."

That term was poison to Tooru's precious little ears. His heart twisted up and he choked out a cry. Tooru leaned in against Hajime and put his head on the boy's shoulder. He started to cry and Hajime knew that it was a bad thing, but he didn't remember it being this bad. He was probably wrong. "Tooru... hey, what is it?" Hajime asked, not wanting to look stupid in front of Tooru.

This was probably the most heartbreaking thing for him to hear, so it meant a lot that Tooru had someone to lean against. There was no telling what he would have done had he been alone with his parents. "M-my sister... she was... sh-she didn't make it... she's dead, Hajime..." Tooru choked out through his crying. Hajime had instinctively wrapped his arms around Tooru and started to pull him in closer. Tooru took it and his face went in against Hajime's chest, crying his eyes out into his chest.

It was a big deal to Tooru, which meant it was still a heartbreaking moment for Hajime to have to go through as well. There was no telling how Tooru was feeling, but if it was as bad as Hajime had imagined, he wasn't going to get over this for quite some time.

"I'm so sorry, Tooru... I know how much you wanted to protect her... But maybe it's better this way..." Hajime suggested, hating himself for mentioning it even. He hated thinking that they were better off without lives themselves, so he hated thinking that Tooru's sister was better to be unborn and not have to live in the hell they suffered through every single day.

After another minute of Tooru crying into Hajime's chest, he sat up straight and wiped his eyes. "I-it's okay. You're right, i-it's better that she didn't get b-born into this family... Her fate wouldn't have been a good one and I would have felt guilty about abandoning her when our time came anyway..." Tooru tried to reason and convince himself of. He wasn't completely convinced that it really was better for her to not have been born, but he was convinced that he likely would have felt jealousy had they treated her better, or guilt when he was meant to leave.

Once the two boys had finally calmed down, Tooru curled back up in a sleeping position and Hajime did the same. They fell asleep quickly at that point. They didn't wake up for another few hours either, but that was when Tooru's dad had come in and dragged him away. Fortunately, he didn't notice or seem to care that Tooru was wearing Hajime's clothes. "Come on, Tooru. You have caused more than enough trouble for today and you'll be lucky if you get a chance to sleep tonight, anyway. I don't know what the punishment is going to be, but your mother is not in a good mood and she will think of something appropriate for the way you tried to run from home."

Tooru climbed out of the bed and he looked back at Hajime, giving him one last desperate look before walking out of his room and going down the stairs to head back home. "What happened with my sibling?" Tooru played along, trying to act as if he didn't already know that his baby sibling was a stillborn.

Hajime could hear the conversation of Tooru's dad telling him that the baby was dead, and he heard how Tooru had given a fake gasp as well. He knew Tooru was faking. He might have been upset still, but the gasping was definitely fake. If anything, Hajime could at least tell that Tooru was trying to fake his way through being upset about this knowledge. It didn't take long for them to get out of the house, but Hajime wondered just how long he had until his parents started abusing him again and telling him how dumb of a move it was for him to try to run away. Regardless, He knew he would have to take further abuse and he wasn't sure that he was really ready for any of this.

He did eventually lay back down in his bed and when it didn't seem like his parents were going to come for him, he decided to roll over and fall asleep.

The strange part about all of this, though? Hajime didn't wake up to a belt or his dad having sex with him. He woke up in the same amount of pain he was in before he had fallen asleep. The sun was up in the sky, too, which was an incredible feat to him. Had he really made it through without receiving another beating? That would have been a miracle in itself. But then, Hajime wondered what the catch was? Why hadn't they beaten him? Why weren't they yelling at him and telling him off for trying to run away? He was very confused and he really wasn't sure that he could be happy about this at the moment. He wouldn't be happy until he learned just why he wasn't getting beat.

When he got out of bed, he felt something around his ankle, and he had gained a sense of foreboding about all of this. This was not something good and he had a feeling that he would find out just what was going on soon. Hajime looked down slowly to see that there was a cuff on his ankle, and the cuff was attached to a chain, which had been connected to the bed. He wondered briefly how he had been chained and cuffed without realizing what was happening, but he probably wasn't likely to find out any time soon. So this was why he hadn't been beat and forced to go through torture again, because his parents probably figured this was torturous enough.

Hajime started to test the length of the chain and he hummed, looking to see how long the chain really was. It seemed to only be a few feet long, which was concerning regardless. But now he was wondering if the chain was long enough to get to his desk and to the wall so he could send messages. That was the most concerning part to him. He didn't care about not being allowed to go to school, he didn't care that his parents were going to probably leave him in there for a week with only scraps of food and water, but he did care about being able to communicate with Tooru.

Looking to the wall, Tooru thought he could hear shuffling from the other side of the wall and it made him want to get up and check on things. But the thing was, he was far too sore to stand at the moment and he was busy scrubbing the floors with wood oil at the moment, to get them to shine to his parents' satisfaction. He wasn't likely to even get his parents to be completely satisfied, but he was just lucky that they didn't murder him for trying to run away. His mother was asleep right now, at the very least, so she couldn't make him do more and throw her glass alcohol bottles at him. It was very unpleasant dodging the glass bottles and having to pick up the sticky pieces from the ground.

It was taking far too long for Tooru to get the wood shining nicely, but he knew it was for the best that he do this, since his parents had said they wanted all the floors shining and looking nicely. "Hajime, I'm so sorry..." he whispered, feeling the tears begin to prick in his eyes. He was desperate enough to want to check on Hajime, but not desperate enough to put himself through more pain. They had made a promise to each other before, that if safety and protecting oneself couldn't happen before sending a note, then the note wouldn't be sent. Granted, Tooru could go really quickly and write Hajime a note, but he was far too sore to get up and do so. His parents had beat him until he couldn't stand, and then told him to change all of the lights in the house, even though most of them were completely fine.

When Tooru thought the floor was good enough, he stood up and curled into himself just a little bit, sniffling and rubbing at his sore abdomen which he was sure was not bleeding internally, Tooru went to the hole in the wall and saw that there was a note, but it was very barely pushed through. Tooru had to pull it out super gently, because there wasn't room for error here. He bit his lip as he opened the rolled up piece of paper.

_Tooru, I am so sorry for thinking we could get away. This was all my fault and you are not to blame at all. You wanted to stay, you wanted to make sure your sister was okay, and I screwed that all up. If there is anything I can do, let me know. Anyway, my parents have gone to a new low. They have chained me up to the bed and I can't even go use the bathroom when I need to, let alone go get food or go to school. It's torture and I'm wondering how long I will be on lock down. I hope your parents weren't very cruel to you and I hope you are okay._

That message pulled at Tooru's heart strings and he shook his head, trying his very hardest not to think about it. This was beyond miserable and he knew that running away was definitely a mistake. But it was a mistake that they had to made, especially with all of the abuse they were going through. No one knew how much they were actually abused, and no one was likely to believe them anyway, but they just had to try to get away and live a normal life.

Tooru went to his desk and wrote a note. He made sure to write it on a slightly bigger piece of paper, so he could roll it up in a way that Hajime was likely able to be able to reach easy enough. He was guessing that the chain was too short to allow him to get to the hole in the wall. That was only his guess anyway, but he had a feeling that he was correct. He wasn't usually incorrect about any of this stuff.

It really didn't take too long for Tooru to get the note through the hole and he hoped that Hajime could reach it. It would be complete torture for both of them if they couldn't communicate for anything longer than a week. "I hope this works..." Tooru said, pushing the note through. He rolled it in a way that made the paper longer and he pushed it through as much as he dared because he didn't want to risk it falling out of Hajime's reach.

Not that it would have mattered anyway, but Hajime reached out to take the paper and he smiled to himself that he was able to reach it. He was glad that Tooru was such a forward thinker and had good ideas that Hajime wished he could only manage at times. Sure, Hajime was smart, but Tooru seemed to be smart in a practical way, not book smart like Hajime. He was book smart too, but his parents just didn't teach him in a way to optimize it in him.

Hajime got the letter and he opened it, going back to his bed to sit down so he could read it and write another note back.

_Hey, I wanted to get away just as much as you did and agreed that it was better to come back for my sister, rather than wait around longer to get abused. But we don't have to worry about that anymore anyway. As much as I hate that she didn't make it, she's better off in the afterlife, if there is such a thing. I'm sorry your parents have you chained up. If I find a way to get the cuff off, I will tell you. I'm sure I can look up lock picking methods somehow. My parents are in overdrive right now, because they want the house completely cleaned and I doubt they will tell me what they want done next, so I'll just have to guess what they want done. We tried our best. Like you said, we will find a way out._

It really was a touching letter and Hajime had so much he wanted to say, but he couldn't think of anything to write, or something to put down that would express his emotions right now. He was just completely done right now and he honestly wanted to break down the wall so they could be together again. He didn't realize how much he would miss Tooru being there physically.

At the very least, though, they had their notes and they could still talk to one another. That was, until their parents discovered that they've been talking all this time and that got taken away too. Hopefully, though, that wouldn't happen.

It was a short note, but Hajime wrote it and managed to just barely get it into the hole again. He pushed it in as much as he could, but he hoped that Tooru would manage to get this one too because it was important to him that he and Tooru continue to communicate.

Tooru did get the message and he sat down again, rubbing his thighs that his parents had bruised up as well. It wasn't nearly as bad as his abdomen had been, but everything hurt at the moment and talking to Hajime was hurting him even more, but that was a kind of pain he could manage right now. It was a kind of pain that he rarely felt, although he had felt it more than enough in the last twenty four hours. With this failure of trying to escape, being next to Hajime physically and getting ripped away from him, and then learning that his mother had a miscarriage, he wasn't too sure that he could take much more emotional pain right now.

When reading the note, Tooru heard his dad start to come up the stairs. He just wanted to read what Hajime had to say and that was it.

_You know, I haven't said this to someone before, but I learned the term in school. I love you, Tooru. I hope I'm using the word right, but I love you and I never want to lose you._

Tooru felt tears well up in his eyes that he had to push back. He shoved the note in his pillow case and went back to the floor quickly to make it look like he was still working on the floor, so he wouldn't get in more trouble. "I hope you're nearly done in here," his dad had said as he pushed the door open. Tooru looked up and nodded before going back to scrubbing the floor where he stood, right by the hole in the wall. "Your mother wants you back downstairs and she wants you to cook for her. I don't know what she wants for breakfast, but I'm sure it won't be an easy meal. It's good that you won't be doing anything other than serving us for a while. No learning, no resting, no anything until we say so."

Once the door was closed and Tooru heard his dad walk away, he shoved the notes in the place he kept all of his notes before scribbling a note back to Hajime. He shoved it into the wall before going downstairs to go serve his mother.

_I love you too, Hajime. I don't know if that's the right way to use the word either, but I love you._


	7. Age Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a bit of gore, so please, do not read this chapter if you are triggered by or cannot tolerate gore.

It was quiet for a few weeks. Things seemed to be going decently, at least as decently as they possibly could. It had taken a while to get to a place that anyone would call things okay again. Really, it wasn't okay, but things were just as good as they were going to get.

The Oikawa family had slowly gotten out of the depression of losing their baby, which Tooru had found out, the baby was a girl after all. He was supposed to have a sister, but the way they were talking about her made it seem like it was better for her not have been alive in this life anyway. Tooru had been abused and punished and pushed beyond limits for a few months, but they had started to give it up and his parents were just back to their horrible selves, punishing him when he screwed up.

The Iwaizumi's had left Hajime on the chain for a couple of weeks, making him use the bathroom in a bowl and only feeding him when they found it convenient. Tooru was nice enough to supply him food through the hole, but that had gotten risky after a few days, so Hajime decided that lying to Tooru about eating and his parents feeding him would be enough for the sandy-haired brunet. It had to be, anyway.

Hajime had only been allowed back to school after he had proved to his parents that he wasn't going to try to run again. The school had heard his parents concerns explicitly, so when Hajime's mother dropped him off in the morning, there was a guard right there, or a teacher, to take him to his class. The security died down after a few weeks of that, but Hajime still felt like he was watched rather closely out of all of the students.

It was still too quiet, just because Hajime and Oikawa hardly had the time to talk anymore. It was a saddening thought, but their days brightened up immensely whenever one of them were able to write to the other and they both had the correct time. Normally, parents would grant their children more freedom and leave them be in their rooms when they got older. Well, the exact opposite happened for the pair of boys, meaning that their tiny amounts of freedom beforehand had been minimized, if it was possible, and the boys had to go through new ways of the parents invading their privacy.

One way that Oikawa's parents took away his freedom was to force him to do school room in the living room, rather than trust him to just get it done in his room. This was part of the reason Tooru couldn't communicate with Hajime as much, which had saddened Tooru to almost no end. If he couldn't communicate with his best friend, what was the point of going on?

Now, the Iwaizumis were a little different with how they were taking away Hajime's freedoms. Hajime was still allowed in his room to go do his homework for school and they still sent him to his room whenever they were annoyed with him or wanted space. But the thing that was different was that they would barge into his room without any warning and call to him to come do things more often. The boy had to be careful about writing to Tooru now because he had been nearly caught on a few occasions. At the very least, his parents just assumed that he was doing homework or some sort of assignment for school.

It was really such a sad thing for the boys to have to come to term with. They used to write to each other nearly every night and day. But now, they were lucky to get to talk to each other once or twice a week. They still cherished every single message, but it was becoming less and less frequent. If they lost their one friend in the world, the boys didn't know what they would do about any of this.

One particularly quiet afternoon, Hajime had heard a peculiar voice coming from the living room, and the boy was a tad bit confused about what he was hearing. There was another voice in his family living room, a voice that didn't belong to either of his parents, and he was pretty sure it wasn't either of Tooru's parents. So who was there?

The boy was still naturally curious, no matter how much his parents tried to beat it out of him, but he was still trying to fight against going to go see who it was. He really didn't need to get in trouble and he really needed to keep to himself. He wasn't causing any trouble in his room and he needed to finish his homework anyway, so he needed to stay in his bedroom if he could. It was so strange though, which was why Hajime went to go stand by the top of the stairs to try to hear who it was.

The voices sounded calm and collected, which was a relief to Hajime, but he really couldn't make out what they were saying. They were speaking in hushed voices, which was why Hajime was struggling to make out what they were saying. Sighing, he decided to go back to his room to go finish up his homework. School was still as boring as ever for the boy, since he was still at the top of his class and they had to come up with bonus questions and extra homework for him to do.

There was a knocking sound on his wall and Hajime looked up to the wall, wondering what it could have been for just a brief second. That was when Hajime realized that Tooru was in his room and they had the perfect opportunity to talk again. This wasn't going to be a passed up chance, if Hajime could help it, so he stood up and went to retrieve the letter in the wall.

Hajime smiled as he looked at the note, wondering how the boy he loved was doing. He knocked back once after taking the note, just to keep up their secret note passing system.

_Hey, Hajime, you might want to look outside where they park the cars. There's a police man there and my parents have been talking about it. Things might not be so good with your parents. I hope you are okay. I love you._

That note had been rather peculiar, and hearing that there were police vehicles outside actually got Hajime a bit excited. Were his parents getting in trouble? Sure, if they got in trouble but were able to stay home, Hajime was sure he would be punished for something he didn't do yet again. But if they were getting punished and they had to go to prison or something? That would be great! Then he could talk to the cops and tell them his story, as well as Tooru's story, and get the two of them free at last.

It was an exciting thing to think, but it was also kind of intimidating at the same time. He really didn't know any other life, and if he had the chance to live another life outside of the hell he had been living in for the last ten years, he didn't know that he would be able to handle it. Was it going to be like the life he and Tooru got to see outside of that family they witnessed while they were walking? Would it be anything like that? If it was anything like that, Hajime wasn't too sure that he would be able to fully appreciate an experience like that.

These were all just pipe dreams at the moment though. Hajime was just dreaming away as he wrote his letter back to Tooru and got up to go put it in the wall.

_I love you too. I'm okay, by the way. Have your parents said anything about the situation? Do they have any idea what's going on?_

After writing the short letter and putting it back in the hole, Hajime wandered back to the stairs and he peeked out a window to see that there were in fact police cars outside of the apartment. Not that Hajime had any reason not to believe Tooru for something of the sort, but he really just wanted to see them for himself. He had seen police cars, since the school brought them by every so often to scare kids and tell them that they would end up in one of those cars if they misbehaved. In Hajime's case, they would lock him up in the school prison before sending him to the cops.

After a few more minutes of trying to listen in on his parents' chat with the officer that was down in the living room, he decided it was no use and Hajime went back to his room to be grandly surprised that there was another letter in the hole. This was obviously a good time for Tooru to be talking, so his heart continued to race happily at the thought that he was getting this awesome chance to talk to Tooru.

_They seem to think that your parents are being questioned about my mom and her crafting business. I don't know if I really believe that, but it's just want they think. Honestly, I just hope you are okay after this whole thing. I would hate for something bad to happen to you, Hajime. I don't know if I could handle having to do this without you._

Those words were very sweet, and Hajime really thought the same way about this situation. Honestly, if Tooru hadn't been around and they hadn't discovered this handy little way of communicating, Hajime wasn't sure that he would want to live for anything and he might have found a way to off himself by now. But since he did have Tooru and they were still talking, he had a new reason to want to live and new motivation to want to find a way out of there.

_I think I'll be okay. My parents haven't been that terrible to me lately. Sure, they still beat me and my dad still rapes me about once a week, but things really haven't been all that terrible._

Sending the note back through the hole, Hajime really wished that time could speed up to the day that he was able to leave the house. He wished that time could speed up so he was old enough to go on his own and not have to listen to his parents anymore. That day was probably sill a little ways off and Hajime wasn't entirely sure when the day he turned that magical number was, but they couldn't keep him trapped in the apartment forever.

Now, the question was, did Tooru know when he became an adult? Was it close enough together that they would be able to leave around the same time? It was a mystery to both boys at the moment.

After a few moments, Hajime heard his name being called from down the stairs and he was expected to go down there. Sighing and wishing he could still talk to Tooru, he guessed that now was just not the proper time for all of that. He would hopefully still get the chance to talk to Tooru when he found out what his parents wanted, but maybe this was just the end of their talking for the week. Hajime honestly didn't know.

When going downstairs, he was greeted with a set of annoyed eyes. He looked around for a moment and Hajime was genuinely confused. Were they annoyed by him? Had he done something wrong? "Yes, mom and dad?" he asked as he looked back up to them, trying to show that he was still at their mercy.

His mother sighed and shook her head, going towards the kitchen. Mister Iwaizumi came closer to him and tilted his head. "So, we have to be out of the apartment in two days. I guess the police needs this apartment to try to investigate our neighbors across the street. We're moving for a little while. I don't know how long, but the police are paying us to be out of here and stay out for longer than two weeks."

That was when Hajime's heart started to ache. What was he going to do without Tooru for two whole weeks? He knew that they hardly spoke as it was, but not having to opportunity at all was going to kill him. Trying his best to hide his disappointment, Hajime nodded and continued to stand up straight. "We just need clothes and all of the important things to be out of the apartment. So all of your school things and the things I use on you up in that hall closet need to come with us."

Of course, his dad was thinking about the things he needed to rape Hajime with and he was thinking about trying to cover up his tracks still. Hajime wasn't so sure that he would be able to cover his tracks completely, but it was worth a try, wasn't it? Sighing internally, Hajime nodded. "May I be excused to go pack?" Hajime asked as he continued to look his father in the face. In reality, he wanted to be excused to he could go talk to Tooru about what was really going on. But he needed to make an excuse so his dad would let him go. "Also, may I ask which neighbors are being investigated? Not our next door neighbors, but the ones across the street?"

At the very least, Hajime had gotten that part right. His dad also didn't seem to be in a very bad mood, even though they had just found out that they would have to move for a few weeks. "Yes, the neighbors across the street. I forget their names."

Honestly, Hajime really wanted to know what they were being investigated for. But that really wasn't his concern and he had to get going so he could talk to Tooru about all of this. At least it wasn't his mom's business that was being looked into, but maybe that wasn't a good thing at all. Hajime couldn't be sure.

Once getting up the stairs, Hajime saw another letter in the wall and he was kicking himself for forgetting to knock to Tooru that he wouldn't be there for a little while. He had wanted to warn Tooru that he was going to be away, and they had come up with a secret knock. Two knocks to ask one another if they were around, three knocks to tell the other that they had to go. It was really a simple way to communicate that they were going to start writing to one another, just so they could keep their messages private and secret.

Reaching for the letter, Hajime pulled it away from the wall and went to read it.

_Things really aren't that bad here, either, but they changed the way I'm allowed to do things. They also changed up their dinner menus for me, so I really don't know what I'm to make them for dinner anymore. It's a bummer, but I am learning how to cook for them again._

It was a relief for Hajime to know that Tooru wasn't suffering too badly now. He knew how bad Tooru had it after his mom had a miscarriage, but if things were turning up, they just had to make sure it stayed that way. Unfortunately, things never seemed to stay good for long when it came to the pair of them. Hajime was learning that fact right now.

_The police are investigating the person across the street, I guess. I didn't get too much detail, but my dad said that they weren't investigating your parents. I really hope that my parents were right and that your parents are safe, but I just don't know what to believe anymore. I hope you're okay, too. By the way... I guess the police wants us out of the house for a couple weeks. I don't think I'll be able to talk with you for a while. I'm going to miss you._

Knocking before he sent the note through, he waited to hear the single knock to say that he could send the note back. It was clear and they were golden to keep writing to one another. The really just had to make sure that each other was safe before writing. Since neither of them had the same freedoms as before, and their parents were more likely to catch them now that they were more invasive, Tooru and Hajime had to come up with a way to protect their way to communicate. That was the one thing they knew they had to keep concealed above everything else. They just couldn't risk losing it, since it was the one thing that was keeping them going.

Tooru looked up at the note and he reached for it, sighing as he heard his parents beginning to yell. At the very least, they weren't yelling for him or trying to get him to leave his room. They were just yelling at the television or something of the like. Either way, he wasn't too terribly concerned about reading the message.

It was honestly a relief for Tooru to know that his parents weren't being investigated for his mom's business. If they were, Tooru would really have to do some thinking and he would probably be taken away to live in a group home, or something of the sort. He didn't want to be taken away from Hajime and he really didn't want to leave the boy, so he was just glad that the police weren't investigating his mom's business.

But that was when the last part of the message hit Tooru and he gasped, shaking his head. Hajime was leaving? He was going to be left all alone with his parents for two weeks? What was he going to do? He certainly didn't like the idea of being without Hajime for so long. Sure, they hardly had the chance to talk now as it was, but the idea of not even having the option if he wanted to try to talk to Hajime really made him nervous.

What if Tooru had an emergency? What if he had something to tell Hajime about right then and there? Hajime wouldn't be there to listen to his freak out! This situation really wasn't an ideal one, and Tooru was starting to feel sorry for himself. It was going to be a rough two weeks, or longer. This wasn't going to be fun.

Finally, though, Tooru started to realize what that meant for Hajime. Hajime wouldn't be allowed in his apartment and his parents would have to find new ways to torture him while they were away at whatever place the police were giving to them. It would be such an adventure and Tooru was rather saddened to know that Hajime would have new bad things and experiences to tell him about when he got back. "Hajime... Just hold on, okay?"

It also hit him that Hajime could have the chance to get away. As sad as that would make Tooru for Hajime to leave him, Tooru would have to tolerate it if Hajime had the ability to leave.

Those thoughts really weren't crossing Hajime's mind at the moment, though. All he could really think about was getting out of the apartment in a timely manner so his parents wouldn't get mad at him and beat him any further. He was doing so good lately, and the most his dad would do to him was smack him around a little for taking too long on his homework or push him into the wall for speaking out of turn.

This was still going to be one of the saddest times of Hajime's life. He really didn't want to leave Tooru, nor did he want to abandon him and try to get away without having Tooru by his side. Unfortunately, that was just something he had to do. It wasn't going to be easy in the slightest, but Hajime was preparing himself for the disappointing feeling and depressing emotions he would feel while he was away from the apartment.

As Hajime started to pack his bags and he looked through his desk, his mind started to flood with thoughts about maybe leaving the notes out on his desk so the police could possibly see them and look into them. But then he got to thinking again. One, why would the police come up to his room? Yes, he had a window facing the street so they could see the street across, but wouldn't that be a little too much work? Two, the police weren't meant to invade their privacy, so leaving the notes out on the desk wouldn't help. Finally, if they got back and his parents got to his room to see all the notes first, he would definitely be locked up for good and his parents would tell Tooru's parents to get him in trouble too. They might even move away for this.

So that was why Hajime decided not to leave the notes on the desk. He tucked them away in the back part of his desk drawer and sighed wishing he could take them all with him. The reality was, Hajime had moments when he felt sad. So he would come to the notes and he would read through all of them, hoping to cheer up after seeing them.

The pair had so many goofy notes, too, which was the great part of their friendship. Even though they didn't really know what it meant to actually joke around like a teenager, they had their own jokes. Like for one, Hajime's dad was losing his hair. So he told Tooru, and Tooru had wrote on one of the notes during that conversation that he would be bald before Hajime knew it and they started calling Hajime's dad 'Baldy' when they were talking about him.

It was moments like this that Hajime really didn't want to lose. He knew they would always have the memories and he would remember the experience of being with Tooru for as long as he lived, but he had to hold onto these little memories for as long as he could remember them. He never wanted to forget, to be honest.

This entire thing was starting to hit Hajime in an emotional way, and the boy started to tear up. He wasn't used to crying unless it was from a physical pain that his parents had caused him. Hajime was a strong lad and he really didn't cry unless he was in physical pain. But this time around, it wasn't physical pain. It was an emotional pain, and this was something he wasn't too used to feeling. Sure, he had been feeling more and more emotions, being around Tooru. Those emotions had started to turn negative the more he had known Tooru. But the pain he was feeling was very new. He had felt worried and scared for Tooru, but the pain had never been this intense.

After a few moments, Hajime tried to drown out his emotions by distracting himself with packing further. Why did he have to leave? Why did he have to pack up and why were the police pushing him out of their apartment? This wasn't a very fair situation, Hajime thought. Granted, nothing in his life was very fair, except for having Tooru around. That was the only thing he was sure about and the only thing he considered to be fair in his life. It was the best thing to ever happen to him, so of course he thought that having Tooru in his life was fair.

Once he had packed his backpack with everything he would need, he looked around to see if there was anything else he needed and his mind kept travelling to the desk, where all of the notes were kept. There were so many notes and Hajime just wanted to bring them all with him. Over the last few years, he had to get rid of some, and Tooru had to do the same. They just had far too many notes to keep, so they had to come up with creative options for hiding all of them. Hajime had compiled most of them in a bag that he kept hidden in his closet, a place his parents never checked. Tooru had put them in a box that he kept his school things in, all the way down in the bottom. So they just assumed that since he was a good student, he wouldn't put anything in that box.

How wrong their parents were.

"Hajime, we're going to get out of here sooner, so we can get back here sooner and the police can finish their work quicker," his father had said as he opened his door. "I'm not likely to get the chance to use you in the next few weeks, so I will have to get it out now and use you extra when I get back. Ready or not, here I come."

Those words were poison to Hajime's ears and he was so sick and tired of having to go through this with his dad. He had learned through the years that asking for help was pointless, and he was too exhausted after being raped to do anything about it after the fact. But that didn't make him hate it any less. It also meant that he was getting a bit braver about trying to stand up for himself.

Looking to his dad, who was pulling down his pants, Hajime shook his head. "No. You should go pack, sir. If you want to get out of here sooner, we don't have time to waste on things like that." It was Hajime's way of trying to stand up to his dad using words. It wasn't likely to work and he was probably going to be punished even further, but Hajime had just had enough of all of this. "Why don't you go finish packing and when there is time at the end, you can... use me?"

There was a look of horror crossing Mr. Iwaizumi's face. It was such a look of horror that Hajime was afraid that his dad was going to do something even more drastic than what he had already planned do to. "You think that you can tell me what to do, boy?" he had asked, stepping a little closer. with his hand still down his pants, getting ready to take them off.

Hajime was playing a very dangerous game, and he knew it, but there was only so much that the boy could take. He was at his limit and he wanted his parents to know that he was just done. "I know you won't listen to me regardless, but do you think I like this and do you think I don't see how other kids are treated when you allow me to go to such a school?"

Feeling the rage coming off of his father, Hajime knew that this was going very poorly for him. This was probably the dumbest thing he had ever done, next to trying to escape. But he had just had it with being treated like this. "And dad, let me ask you something? How do you handle getting through work with everyone who doesn't listen to you and you can't just force them into things?"

That was the moment that Mr. Iwaizumi had boiled over the top and he reached for Hajime, grabbing onto anything that he could find to hold. Hajime was prepared for this and normally, he would just stay submissive and he would let his father do whatever he wanted to him. This time, though, Hajime was prepared to fight back.

His dad had reached for the top of his head to grab his hair, but Hajime had ducked down and pushed his arm away, going for the door. Mr. Iwaizumi had gotten his leg out quick enough and he had tripped his son, letting Hajime go flying into the wall.

It wasn't enough to knock Hajime out, or even enough to really hurt him. But it was just the thing his father needed to get the upper hand. "Are you trying to anger me? Do you want me at my worst? Well, either way, you've gotten me at my worst and you're going to see me at my worst," Mr. Iwaizumi had said.

This wasn't what Hajime had wanted, but his emotions were controlling him and he was sick of being submissive and letting his parents control him. He was sick of having to be raped all the time and he was just done getting hurt the way he did and being controlled. 

Finally, he was just done with all of the scars he had gathered through the years. At the very least, Hajime didn't have scars on his face, but he had to dress in full length pants and a long sleeved shirt to cover his scars mostly. Whenever he was dressed for school and he had to get changed into his gym uniform, all of the other boys would look at him and see his scars. It was honestly very discouraging and Hajime was very self conscious about it. He actually had gotten in trouble about his scars at school once and his teachers called his parents in to talk to them about it, which had gotten him into even more trouble at home, which meant even more scars. So now, Hajime makes sure that he is one of the last to get changed or he is the first one to get changed. If there are too many people in the locker room, he goes to change in a toilet stall or hides around corners by the lockers.

Hajime had tried to stand up to keep trying to get away, but his father had grabbed onto the back of his neck as he stood and he had pressed him up against the wall. "You don't want to try to run. You know what happened last time you tried to escape. I can assure you, it will be ten times worse this time around if you try to run," his dad had said and Hajime cringed. His father's lips were so close to his ear and he could feel the hot breath on his ear and neck. It was such an unsettling feeling.

It was engraved into him to hold still when his father was hurting him and abusing him. Usually, he would hold still and he would let his father do whatever he wanted to him. Sometimes, he felt he deserved it, just because of how he had been raised. Most of the time, he was too far into the punishment to try to fight back. But right now, he was all about fighting back. Right now, he was standing up for himself. "I've already seen you at your worst. It couldn't possibly get worst, father," Hajime said as he stood there, face pressed up against the wall with an arm against his back, holding him there.

Mr. Iwaizumi hummed and he let out a laugh. It was such an evil laugh and it would have usually scared Hajime into submission or terrified him to the point that he wanted to run. But he had been used to this for nearly his entire life and Hajime was really just done. He wasn't sure what inspired him to stand up for himself, but he hated feeling like he could do nothing. He hated feeling like he had to be stuck in this life. So it was going to change.

As his father laughed, Hajime jerked his elbow back and pushed his father off of him, getting free for a moment or two. He had gone do the door, opened it, and he tried to slam it shut, but his father had a boot in the way and he had wedged himself between the door and the door frame so he couldn't shut the door on his father. Hajime had decided closing it wasn't worth his time, so he started to run as his dad pulled the door open and he started to come after the boy.

Hajime was fast, but he wasn't faster than his mother, who was in the bedroom and had stepped in the way right at the correct moment. She had gotten Hajime to fall back into his father and she gave him a look. "What is all of this about not liking how we treat you? What is all of this about thinking your father and I have shown you are worst sides? We have only shown you a glimpse. We could be so much worse to you," she said, stepping forward.

Unfortunately, Hajime's arms were now trapped, as Mr. Iwaizumi was holding onto the boy firmly as Mrs. Iwaizumi had started to come closer to him. Hajime knew he was in for a world of hurt with everything he had done, so he closed his eyes and tensed up. "Take him back to the bedroom, chain him up so he can't move. We're going to try another form of torture today to teach him a lesson."

It didn't seem like it could get any worse, but Hajime had lost his imagination when it came to their abuse. He was just done trying to think of the terrible things they could do to him. He didn't want to imagine what else they could do to him.

Now, if they took away his communication with Tooru, that would be the worst thing they could actually do to him. That was actually part of the reason he was fighting back at the moment, just because his subconscious mind really didn't want to leave. He knew that it would only be for a couple weeks, but those couple weeks would turn into a month, and then his parents would start making him go on other trips and they would want to adventure out of the house with him even more. That would mean that his communication with Tooru would completely disappear, since they were already down to talking so very little.

As Mr. Iwaizumi strapped him onto the bed and got him as immobile as he possibly could, he struggled to get away, but he realized how useless it was, just like every other time he tried to get away. His mother hummed a bit, looking him over and she smiled. "If you think you've known pain, I'm going to show you a new type of pain that I've read up on. You're in for a whole new type of pain today."

There couldn't possibly be a new type of pain for Hajime to endure. But that was where Hajime was very wrong, and he would take back everything and tolerate having to leave for three weeks just so he didn't have to go through this. At least, that was how he felt after everything was said and done.

His mother left for a moment and came back with one of those clamps that papers were held together with. The ones that looked like butterflies, or something of the sort. This one was all metallic and Hajime rolled his eyes, thinking he would have to deal with pinching on his skin. That didn't seem too bad to him, honestly. If that was all it was.

But that was where Hajime was very wrong. "Hey, babe? Could you hold down his foot for me? It's not as still as I'd like it to be," she said and Mr. Iwaizumi obliged, reaching to hold down his foot. "You can hold it down, just give me access to his toes. Now, I haven't had time to prepare for this torture, just because I really just read about a psycho serial killer doing it to his victims. But we're not psycho killers, and we don't have to worry about the police finding out about us."

This was very confusing. Why was his dad holding down his foot? Why did his mom have that paperclip in her hand? "Usually, this would be done with some other type of tongs or another clip thing to get a better grip, but we will see if this does the trick. If not, you'll be chained down until we can find something else to do this with."

Rolling his eyes, Hajime really wanted to know what this torture was going to be. "You sickos aren't just going to rape me a new way? I can't imagine this being worse than th-"

Feeling the clip touch his toes and get wedged between his skin and toenail, he flinched a bit, wiggling his toes. But his mother had a very strong grasp on his toe and his father was holding his foot down so he couldn't even move it where the restraints allowed him to move to. The metal was cold and it had just surprised him. "It fits in there. Now lets see if I can pull hard enough with it."

This had to be one of the worst things Hajime had to experience in his life. More so than being raped, more so than the feeling of being shocked or burned. He felt his mother start to pull on the clip and it started to pull on his nail.

The scream that left his lips was the strongest and largest scream he had ever produced. His father had actually started to laugh, but he held onto his foot tightly, feeling how Hajime had started to tense up and try to get it away. It wasn't going to work, but Hajime was trying.

His mother continued to pull on his toenail until the nail started to loosen a bit and started to slide out of him. His toe started to bleed and Mrs. Iwaizumi smirked as she actually got the nail out of him completely. Hajime regretted everything he had done up until this point and the pain was making him squirm, scream, and he was feeling tears from pain this time. He couldn't help it, he was just in so much pain. "So, Hajime, tell me. Are you going to question if we can get worse anymore? Are you going to try to get away and fight against us anymore?"

"N-no! No, O-oh no... I won't, please... I-it hurts..." he cried. He had never shown his parents how much pain he had been in before, or begged for them to stop, but this was a new type of pain that he really didn't want to feel again. He didn't think he would be able to handle another toenail being pulled off. It was awful enough when he broke a nail and it was bleeding, or he stubbed his toe. This was bad though. This was very bad.

Humming, she looked to his big toe and she smirked, getting her clip under that particular nail. He gasped, trying to wiggle his toes enough that she struggled to hold onto it. But unfortunately, that wasn't happening. She looked up to Hajime and sighed, shaking her head. "This is your fault, you know. If you had just listened to your father and I and had let him use you like normal, you wouldn't be going through this. So you really only have yourself to blame."

That was beyond true and Hajime wished he could go back. He wished he could be going through anything else at the moment. But this was what he had to be going through. "I-I know... I am so, s-so sorry... It will n-never happen ag- AHHHH!" His mother began pulling on his big toenail and that was when he let out that scream again. Normally, his pain tolerance was very high and just being pushed around didn't hurt him anymore. Generally, he could handle the pain of about anything. But right now? This was another type of pain that he really didn't want to try to tolerate anymore. He was going to scream himself hoarse at this rate.

His mother stopped about halfway through the nail and groaned, looking up to Hajime's father. "This is a stubborn toe. I'll come back to it. The other nails should be easier."

Listening through the wall, Tooru was leaning against it and the tears continued to roll down his cheeks. It had been so long since Tooru had heard scrams like that coming from Hajime's room. What were they doing to him? What kind of abuse and torture did he have to endure? Was it really worse than being raped? Yes, he had heard Hajime yell a bit from being raped, but this was full blown screaming. Tooru couldn't imagine it being worse than being raped. But maybe it was. Tooru would just have to wait until Hajime was able to write him about this.

Tooru really couldn't listen to this anymore and he left his room, going to the bathroom to cry silently and clean it up, even though there really wasn't anything to clean. There were a few bottles that had soap built up on the caps and such, and he scrubbed the toilet for the third time that week, as well as the tub for the fifth time that month. Hopefully, his parents wouldn't need him for a bit, because if they saw how he was reacting to Hajime's pain next door, they would make him endure pain too, or do something to him that would put him in as much physical pain. They would also question just why Tooru was crying and he didn't think he could come up with some kind of lie at the moment.

It had been an hour since Hajime had to go through the pain of having his toenails ripped out. His parents continued to rip on his toes until he had passed out from pain. They went to go continue packing after that and left Hajime strapped to the bed.

Unfortunately, they weren't done, so they ripped out all of his toenails and they also ripped out his pinkie fingernails.

That also didn't mean that his parents were done with the abuse, either. Hajime had to tolerate being raped and then, he was told to bandage his own toes and get moving so they could go to the cops and tell them they were ready to leave. He didn't get his wish of wanting to stay home to stay with Tooru, but he did get to scrawl one last note to Tooru before he left, which just explained everything he had gone through in the last couple of hours.

_My parents have a sick mind. I no longer have toenails and my pinkie fingernails are gone too. I have gone through hours of pain and I still have to leave the apartment. Good luck in these next few weeks. I'll talk to you when I get back. I love you, Tooru._

That letter was the last thing Tooru saw of Hajime for the next month and a half. The investigation had stretched for nearly a month, and the police had awarded the Iwaizumi family a vacation, meaning they were away from the apartment for an additional week. The police really weren't interested in things going on at the Oikawa's apartment, they were really only interested in the neighbors across the street. That did mean, though, that the Oikawas had to be quiet with their abuse and force Tooru to be quiet.

"I miss you so much, Hajime... please come back..."


	8. Age Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are indents in the front of the paragraphs this time, because AO3 wouldn't work with me just posting it in HTML and it wouldn't take my coding. I didn't feel like backspacing all of the indents to make it match the other chapters, though. I hope you enjoy this chapter.
> 
> I don't know what it is about torturing these two, but I just kind of love it... I also kind of hate myself at the same time...

               "Is that... is that _him_?" Tooru was speaking softly to himself as he looked out the window of his bedroom apartment. At the moment, he was just working away at his school work, trying to keep himself occupied as best as he could. Life had been hard the last couple of weeks, and Tooru knew that the only reason it was hard was because he had been deprived of talking to his best friend.

               At first, the reason they weren't able to talk was because the Iwaizumis had been asked to leave their home for a police investigation. Tooru's parents had done some snooping and found out that the people across the street were running an illegal drug business. They also found out that the people across the street were trying to front the business as a bakery or a delivery for baked home goods, or something of the sort. The people across the street were arrested and Hajime was allowed to come back. That was all Tooru was told, though, and that was all he cared to know.

               When the Iwaizumis had gotten back, though, Hajime was still not able to communicate easily with Tooru. His parents had him doing extra work.

               It was a rather large list of reasons that forced them into not being able to talk. At the moment, it was because Hajime had been expected to participate in school events and was never home. By the time he was back at home, it was either too late and Tooru was already asleep when he had time to talk, or he was just too exhausted himself from school and extra activities to find an excuse to stay in his room and risk his dad coming in to rape him. It wasn't that he didn't miss Tooru. God, he missed Tooru more than anything, but he just didn't have time with all of the stuff going on in his life. If Hajime had it his way, he would be allowed to talk to Tooru more often. Much more often, like when they were eleven.

               When the school had told him that he had to participate in some sort of school activity in order to graduate eventually, he told his parents and let them decide what he was going to participate in. They were rather upset with the school and tried to talk to them about Hajime being excused from such requirements, but they weren't going to make that exception for the boy, just because they didn't want others to expect the same kind of treatment. So finally, the Iwaizumis sat down and went through the list of extracurricular activities that Hajime could potentially be a part of.

               Unfortunately, Hajime knew that he wasn't going to get to choose and they would make him do what they wanted him to do regardless, so that was why he didn't look at the list, and why he didn't want to get his hopes up about joining anything specific. At the very least, there was a good thing to come out of all of this. His parents made him join _three_  extracurricular activities, which kept him out of the apartment all the time. Hajime had mixed feelings about being out of the apartment as frequently as he was. The good side was, his parents didn't have much time to abuse him anymore, because he wasn't there to be abused. The bad thing about it all, though, was that his conversations with Tooru were very limited, and he missed him so much at this point.

               Looking out the window, Tooru felt himself getting more and more excited about his friend coming back to the apartment. He was walking slowly and his shirt was being pulled by his mother to drag him inside, but Tooru was used to seeing things like that now. Tooru was just excited to see his best friend.

               Mrs. Iwaizumi pushed her son inside and Hajime stumbled, holding onto his stomach and looking back to his mother. "I don't know how you managed to screw up that badly today, and you're still not going to get out of going to your competition tonight, but just wait until your father hears about all of this and he can deal with you on his own. He will _love_  to hear about your screw up. Did you just screw up so badly so you could have your toenails pulled out again? Is that what you were aiming for?"

               Hearing that, Hajime felt a shiver go down his spine and he was still in pain after they took his toenails out the first time. His toes weren't really the same, either. They didn't grow back properly and his big toe was still growing back the nail. Either way, though, he didn't want to have to go through that today. "It was a mistake, and I won't let it happen again... I'm sorry, ma'am..." Hajime said as he looked down, standing against the wall and still holding his stomach. Hajime had accidentally stood in front of a large machine that his teacher was showing them for his technology class. As he pulled back the lever, it hit Hajime very hard in the stomach and the boy was knocked back.

               Of course, the school nurses had instructed his mother to take Hajime to the hospital, but he knew that his mother wasn't going to listen to them. She told them that she would take him to the hospital, but that never happened. They just came straight home. The nurse was afraid of Hajime bleeding into his abdomen, but his mother was more concerned that Hajime would vomit blood all over her car. Luckily, he hadn't, but he was still in pain. "You'd better not let it happen again. I was busy at work and had to tell my bosses that I had to leave early because of you. I don't want that to happen again. Do you hear me?" she said with a narrowed set of eyes. That told Hajime that she was very serious and he really needed to do everything to keep her in a decent mood.

               Nodding and giving his quiet response, Mrs. Iwaizumi scoffed and turned to go back towards the dining room and decided that Hajime could be left alone while she worked from home. He wouldn't dare to do anything too reckless while she was there, and since he was still in pain and his mother was home, he would be good.

               Once he had disappeared to go back upstairs, he collapsed on his bed and started to tear up. It wasn't from the pain or anything, because the heavens knew that Hajime had gone through more than enough pain for his lifetime and he had been through much more pain than any of this. But he was just starting to feel the stress of school, his science club competition being today, and how much trouble he was going to be in when his dad found out. At the very least, Hajime would be at the competition before his dad got home.

               It wasn't another minute before Hajime heard a knocking on his wall, and he looked up to the wall, realizing that this was the perfect opportunity for Hajime to get to talk to Tooru. He knew he should have done his homework and he really should have looked at his plans for the competition that night, but talking to Tooru was honestly just a little more important at this point. They hadn't had time to talk in the last few days, and their conversations were really minimal right now because of Hajime being out of the apartment.

               Really, there was no time to waste. Hajime would be expected to go to his competition in a few hours and he wouldn't have a better time to get to talk to Tooru. Wiping the tears from his eyes and getting up to stand, Hajime went to the wall and knocked to tell Tooru he was actually there. There was a note in the wall just seconds later, and Hajime pulled it out of the wall to see what Tooru had to say as he went back to his desk.

                _I'm happy you're home and all, but why are you home? Don't you have school? Isn't your big contest tonight? Are you okay?_

               It was really just all of the questions that threw Hajime off a bit, but it was valid for Tooru to be asking questions in this type of situation. The boys really didn't have time to talk at all lately, so this was just a good time for Hajime to explain everything. "Oh Tooru..." he whispered, shaking his head a bit.

               As he wrote back, he decided that he would actually get a start on his homework and he would stay in his desk, just so he could continue to talk to Tooru. Not that his stomach would really like him staying up like this, but it was really the best option at this rate. He needed to talk to Tooru. His mental state wouldn't remain and he really would go crazy if he wasn't able to talk to Tooru now.

               Going back to the wall, he knocked back on the wall to see if it was a good time to send a note back. When Hajime didn't hear a knock back, he went back to sit down and he held onto the note as he started his history homework. Honestly, he really wanted Tooru to be okay and he wanted to get to talk to him.

               But apparently, Tooru's mom didn't think the same way and wasn't aware that she was making her son miss out on something so important as she called her son down the stairs. "Yes, mom?" Tooru asked with a bit of a frown, but he hid the frown as his mom looked back at him.

               If Tooru hadn't come down at that exact moment, his mother would have gotten even more furious, which was why Tooru had to come to her right then. His mother had been increasingly more agitated lately and it was just something that Tooru had to come to terms with. "Go to the corner and go get some more crafting sticks for me. This client is very important and I've used up everything. So here, go get some sticks and then anything you need to make dinner tonight."

               That request wasn't exactly a surprise for Tooru to hear, but the last part was what the surprise was. Tooru wasn't usually allowed to buy what he needed for dinner. His parents bought all of the food and Tooru was just expected to use what was there. If it were up to him, he would have bought better ingredients. He knew that his mother would look at the receipt and would question what he bought, but right now? He really just couldn't seem to make himself care about the repercussions of buying better ingredients.

               It only took maybe a half hour for Tooru to come back with her crafting sticks and the better ingredients. He gave his mother the change and he set her crafting sticks down, then was nearly about to go back up the stairs when she cleared her throat. "Where's the rest of the change?"

               When asked that question, Tooru turned and bit his lip. "That's all of the change. I bought different ingredients this time, because I wanted to make the dinner even better tonight. I just wanted to do something nice for you and father. I hope it's okay that it was a little more expensive."

               When Tooru saw her glare, he knew that it really wasn't okay, but he wasn't going to be punished too terribly for what he did. "Oh, fine. You're going to make up for this, though, you know. You'll have to pay for this," she said and she went back to her work. Tooru was allowed to go back to his room so he could continue his studies. He wasn't going to go back to doing school work, but he really did want to talk to Hajime.

               The best part of all of this was, when Tooru came back, Hajime was still in his room and hadn't been asked to do anything else. Tooru really was worried that he wouldn't still be there when he got back. He had been saddened by the fact that his mother even called him away to go do work, but it was better now that he knew that Hajime was still there. He really did just miss the boy. Knocking on the wall and seeing the note, Tooru pulled it so quickly out of the wall that he nearly dropped it.

               It was a sad note to read and he really just wanted to be there so he could try to comfort Hajime and get him feeling all better. That was all Tooru wanted, but they hadn't even seen each other in passing for the last couple of months. All they ever got to see of each other was when they caught a glimpse of the other walking outside. But that was it.

                _I made a mistake at school and got injured by a big machine. I was supposed to go to the hospital, but my mother wouldn't take me, even though the school said I really needed to go._

               As the note was devoured, Tooru was quick to reply and he was glad that Hajime was still there to read his response. He heard the knock on the wall just a few moments after his own and he put the note back in the hole, seeing the note disappear quickly. It was a good feeling to have someone there to listen to him, and it was the special someone he had really liked talking to. It was his best friend in the entire world, not that he really knew what it was like to converse with other children other than Hajime. Hajime would forever be his best friend, though.

               Tooru's reply to Hajime had been full of concern for the boy, but it really was just like Tooru to be concerned, as he could only have concern for Hajime now. He didn't care about anyone else and he didn't need to care about anyone else. Not at the moment, anyway. Before, he was concerned about his sibling. But now that he didn't have a sibling to worry about, he could place all of his concerns on Hajime and make sure that the boy was really just as well off as he could be.

                _That's rough, I'm sorry Hajime! Will you still be able to do your competition tonight? I know how much you were looking forward to it and how much time you've put into your studying for it. Also, why do our parents not care about our health? They should want us as healthy as we can be so we can do as much work for them as we possibly can. It just blows my mind that we get treated like such crap when we get pushed around as much as we do._

               After Tooru's note was read, a new note came back quickly and Hajime knocked just to make sure Tooru was still there. Tooru knocked back and the pair were back to talking. They hadn't set more than two notes to one another in such a long time that this was such a happy occasion. Maybe they could get back to how they used to be? Maybe this could be a day where they talked all day and made up new jokes. Tooru could only hope, although he didn't have too much hope that it would be like that. He was under the impression that Hajime had to go to his competition tonight, either way. He found out as soon as he read the note, which Tooru was saddened to read.

                _Yea, I do have to go to the competition tonight still. I'm the team captain, even though everyone is older than me and should have more experience. They ask me for help with everything and it's kind of annoying. But as long as we win tonight, I really don't care. I just really want to win. Although I might have to ask my vice captain to stand in for me because I'm really in a lot of pain still. You would think our parents would care more about our health, but I've just learned to accept that we're never going to be cared about in the slightest. Our parents don't care._

               That was really very sad for Tooru to read, although he wrote back a note quickly and he hummed a little as he wrote. He really should have been focusing on his school work, but his mother was struggling to find new content for him, just because he was so far ahead in his studies. Some of his books were university level and he was already halfway done with them.

               The two boys continued to talk for nearly another half hour, and they had each sent more than a dozen notes. By the end, Hajime had to hold his mouth to stop from laughing too loudly, and Tooru was giggling in his room, just so very happy with the way today had been going. After they spoke for that half hour, Tooru had to go help his mother with her crafting, and Hajime was left all alone to focus on his homework, as well as his notes for his competition that night.

               If it weren't for their friendship, neither boy would want to be alive. Neither boy would have a will to live anymore, and at this rate, one of them would probably be dead. But it was their friendship that held them onto surviving. It was also the friendship that caused Tooru pain and anxiety later that night when he watched Hajime coming back into the apartment after his contest.

               But Hajime wasn't alone. He was with his parents, who were very cheery and faking their way through being normal, and he was also with _another boy_. It was an emotion that Tooru wasn't even aware of and he hadn't remembered feeling it before, but he had felt this emotion when he saw the way other kids got to live their lives in a safe and happy way. He felt this same exact emotion when he and Hajime had tried to escape that one time a couple of years ago and he saw how other kids were treated by their own parents.

               Tooru was feeling jealousy.

               Hajime was talking with this boy and he motioned towards the apartment door. Tooru frowned once more and he was wondering what this kid was doing here. Was Hajime trying to replace him? Did Hajime not want to be friends anymore? Tooru was feeling so many emotions at the moment.

               It was a little unfair of Tooru to think this way, but it was just in his nature to start to feel like this. He knew that Hajime was allowed to know other boys, and he was bound to make friends at school, so Tooru wondered just what was going on.

               Sadly enough, Tooru wasn't allowed to stick around and wait to ask Hajime about what was going on. He had to do more work for his parents, just so he could avoid getting in trouble and getting a beating. It was late, but his parents were expecting their laundry all rewashed, folded, and taken care of. It wasn't something they had told him to do, but they had hinted that they wanted their laundry to be fresh by the time that they woke up in the morning, so Tooru put it on himself to wash their clothes so they wouldn't get mad at him and throw more torture his way.

               It was a hassle, but Tooru had finally gotten all of their laundry done. He went back down the stairs to see if his parents wanted anything else done. He was hoping that his parents actually did want something done so he could distract himself. Who was this other kid that Hajime had coming over to his house? Why didn't Tooru know about him? Surely, there would be an explanation for all of this. Certainly, Hajime wasn't really trying to replace him, right? It just caught Tooru off guard to see him with that other boy, and it had upset him. He wasn't sure where he had gotten this thought that Hajime was trying to replace him, but it was really just how his mind worked.

               Did he really deserve to be alive? Wouldn't he be better off dead without Hajime? It was the question he was left asking himself as he polished and cleaned his parents' shoes and tried to pick up on other hints of what his parents wanted to have done. Amazingly enough, his parents had been very impressed with him lately and they really hadn't abused him. Maybe his life was good with his parents because his life with Hajime wasn't so good at the moment. Was that how it worked? Was Tooru only allowed to be happy in one part of his life?

               Eventually, Tooru wandered back up to his room to try to focus on his University textbooks. He really needed a distraction right now. Shouldn't Tooru be happy for Hajime, though? Shouldn't he want Hajime to have other people in his life? Tooru didn't even know why that boy was over there, so he kind of felt bad for making assumptions about what was going on. He also really wanted to talk to Hajime, but what if that boy was in his room? What if Tooru was interrupting friend time?

               Taking a moment or two, Tooru composed a letter anyway and he walked over to the wall. He really just wanted to know what was going on and who he saw with Hajime and why the boy was there. There absolutely <i>had</i> to be an explanation, didn't there? Right when Tooru was about to knock, he had actually heard a knock come from the wall. What was this black magic, Tooru was thinking.

               Tooru knocked in reply to tell Hajime that he could send a note through, but he was hoping that Hajime really was alone. He was hoping that whoever this boy was didn't take his best friend away from him. He just wanted to keep his best friend to himself. Was that too much to ask for? If they eventually gathered new friends, that was fine, but Tooru didn't think that he could handle being replaced.

               A letter appeared in the hole and Tooru grabbed it, hoping there was an explanation for this. There had to be, didn't there?

          _Tooru, get me out of this, please... I have another kid here from my science club team, and his parents said he could stay the night. He's taking a shower and after that he's going to eat dinner with my parents and they lied and told him I already ate. I just don't want him to see how they treat me and have him pity me. I hope they will treat me well while he's here, but they will probably hide their abuse regardless._

               It was really such a sad thing to know that Hajime was in such a place. But it was also a relief to know that Hajime wasn't trying to replace him. At least, it didn't feel like Hajime was trying to replace him anymore. If Hajime didn't want this other boy being there, that told Tooru that it was being forced upon him and he was just trying to survive having the kid there.

               The boy had to compose a new letter, because his first letter was asking Hajime all about what was going on and why there was a boy over. He just had to change the tone of the letter a little bit, he figured. Tooru sat down and started to write, although he was still jealous of the other boy. He felt a little better knowing a little more, but still wished he could be in the other boy's shoes right now. Or at least, he wish he could stay over with Hajime like that one night. He knows he didn't get to stay with Hajime the whole night, but he would still cherish all of that time they got to spend together. They were so very close to escaping those few years ago that Tooru wish he could go back in time and relive that whole day over and over again.

               When the note made it through, Tooru knocked on the wall to tell Hajime that there was a note there. It was gone in probably a second after Tooru had put it in there, just because Hajime didn't know how much time he would have left to talk to Tooru. He also wasn't sure that he would be allowed to stay in his room while they all ate. The only reason they had told the boy that Hajime had already had dinner was because they didn't want to have to make food for both boys. It was sad, but Hajime would have to go hungry that night.

               As he sat down and read the note, he sighed at the way Tooru was reacting to this. Honestly, he would have thought Tooru would have reacted worse, but maybe Hajime was just hoping that Tooru would see it as worse than it actually was. He wanted Tooru to be possessive with him, if he was being honest. Hajime wanted Tooru to take the control from him at times, or he wanted him to be angry at other times.

               Maybe it was a good thing that Tooru wasn't reacting strongly to this, though. It was unnatural for Hajime to want Tooru to be upset anyway, he thought. Regardless, he changed his thinking a bit and he figured that it was better for Tooru to not be upset about all of this.

               _So your parents just let him come over? Huh, that's odd. I wonder what deal they have with his parents for them to let him stay over. I also wonder why they let him come over because don't your parents usually abuse you after a competition, even though you've done the best you can?_

               It was things like this that made Hajime grateful to have a friend like Tooru, who remembered everything he had going on and remembered how his parents treated him. It was the little things like this and how much Tooru just remembered in general. He felt appreciated and loved if he was being honest. Tooru made him feel cared for, unlike anyone else in his life.

               It took him a little longer than he wanted to compose a letter for Tooru, just because his emotions were consuming him at the moment. "I h-hope you know how much I care about you..." Hajime whispered as he wrote his letter. The sound of the water had shut off and Hajime's eyes widened. He tried to start writing faster, but he ended up just having to hide the note for his teammate to come in his room and get changed. "I can step out if you want me to," Hajime said, although he was worried that his teammate would see the note.

               "Nah, that's okay. Just don't look," the boy said as he had gone to his bag to get clothes out. "Your parents seem nice, by the way. You complain about them too much, I think. They're not so bad.

               When the boy had said that, Hajime felt his blood start to boil. It was things like this that would make him lose his credibility as having the worst parents in the school. He only had a few other friends that were even close to having similar situations, but their parents really didn't treat them as bad. "They are being nice because you're here. That's the only reason, because they don't want to treat you any worse than what your mom does. Okay? They are still horrible. I can show you all of the torture devices they use on me. And don't make me remind you of what they did a few months ago with ripping out my toenails."

               The other kid sighed and shrugged a bit. "They just seem nice to me, that's all. You don't need to get so defensive," he said and Hajime turned away so the boy could get changed. "Maybe it's just how you see them. Maybe they're not so bad. Are you sure they didn't pull your toenails out because they were infected or something?"

               It took everything of Hajime to do his best to not scream and lose his cool. "Kunimi, I know you have bad parents yourself. If I went over and said that your parents were fine, and they didn't treat you badly, how would you feel? I know my mother didn't pull out my toenails because they were infected. She pulled them out because she was trying to teach me a lesson of talking back to my dad."

               "Maybe you shouldn't have spoke back to him then. I don't know, it's not a big deal. I guess they are just treating me nicer or something because they don't want to mistreat a child that isn't theirs." It was that final statement that got Hajime to calm down finally, because maybe, just maybe, Kunimi was starting to understand. Finally, when Kunimi left the room, Hajime went to the wall with Tooru's letter and knocked. He sent it through and waited patiently for a response.

               It wasn't like Hajime to take this long to send a message through when he was in his room, but Tooru knew it was a different situation and the moment, Tooru understood that he had to be patient. Although, he did start to feel the nerves inside him firing up when he could hear talking from the other room. The other boy was in the room with Hajime, and it made Tooru want to be with Hajime. Honestly, why hadn't their parents had the boys stay together with one set of parents when the other set of parents had to go away? It was really a mystery and maybe their parents were just worried that Tooru and Hajime would start to become friends. Their parents were very strict in the fact that they really didn't want either boy to have friends, or to have anyone to turn to for about anything.

               Each boy had experienced the thought subconsciously, though, of what each set of parents were trying to achieve by making the boys not have any friends. They both had wondered at one point what the parents were going to do when the boys were both old enough to go out on their own and didn't want to be home anymore.

               Tooru sighed as he read the note, but he was surprised when he heard Hajime knock again. He had wanted to send another note through, which was fine, but Tooru didn't need him to explain, really.

                _I heard them talking in the car that this boy's parents just need time to figure things out and they need alone time, I guess. Apparently his parents wanted him to get a taste of what showing real respect was like, too, but my parents haven't taught him anything. They haven't treated him like I get treated. They do usually abuse me, but maybe they are waiting to abuse me in front of Kunimi so they can scare him._

               Tooru thought that maybe that was the reason they weren't treating him poorly yet, but he also hoped that Hajime would get away with no abuse that night. Every night that Tooru had to hear Hajime getting abused or rape was the worst time of his life. He had a lot of worst times of his life. It was the emotional pain of having to hear Hajime getting hurt like that. When Tooru read the next note, he actually smiled.

                _Sorry about that, Tooru. Kunimi is such an idiot. he has no idea what we go through every day. If only he could walk in yours or my shoes for a day, he would see that he has it so much better. But I wouldn't want him to trade shoes with us for a day, because I want to keep you around._

               When Tooru had saw that Hajime wanted to keep him around, he had no doubts in his mind anymore that Hajime was really wanted to hold onto their friendship. He no longer believed that Hajime wanted to replace him as a friend. He no longer had doubts that he would lose his friendship and he once again had a sense of security in where he was in life. After another moment, Tooru began to compose another letter.

               It wasn't a moment later that Tooru had finished his letter, but his door opened up and Tooru jumped, shoving the note into his shirt before turning around. "I wanted to wear my silk pajamas tonight, so where are they?"

               When it dawned on Tooru, he realized that he hadn't put their clothes into the same place as they were. Normally, he wouldn't slip up like this. He wouldn't usually slip up like that. He would have normally put everything back where it had been without his parents having to stress about where things were. But his mind had been so wrapped up in Hajime, lately, that he really just slipped up.

               Tooru kept his hand on the letter in his shirt, trying to act natural about the whole thing. "I can go find them..." he whispered, stepping forward and he stopped short the moment his mother had reached for him. He knew she was going to hit him, or grab him, or something, but he wanted to avoid it at the time being. Things couldn't go back to being bad with his parents when they were slowly getting to being good with Hajime. Why did something have to be bad? Why couldn't he have a good relationship with Hajime and continue to make his parents happy, or not mad at him?

               His mother had stepped forward and grabbed his ear, pulling it and making Oikawa gasp, leaning into her hand. "Why are all of my clothes in a different spot anyway? Were you looking for something? You know better than to snoop around in our room," she said. It seemed to be a bit of a hiss at the moment, which was what told Tooru that she really wasn't in a good mood.

               There was a smell to her breath that had Tooru a bit concerned. He had smelled this scent before on his father's voice, and it was from when his father was drinking something with alcohol in it. It was only a few moments that she had been standing with Tooru that closely, because she had noticed something on the floor.

               Tension built in the air. When Tooru realized that his mother was looking down on the ground, and when Tooru saw that she was looking at something specific. "What's that?" she slurred and Tooru watched as she went to reach down for it.

               It was the fear and the nerves that had startled enough to push her when she went to reach for the note. Tooru really didn't want her to get the note, and he really didn't want to have to explain what it was all about. The thing was, Tooru really hadn't thought that through. If he had really thought about his actions, he wouldn't have pushed his mom and he would have lied his way through the note. She was drunk, she wouldn't remember it anyway. But he really just hadn't thought through what he had done.

               As his mother stumbled and she hit her hip against his desk, Tooru grabbed at the note and shoved it under something on the floor really quick. "What's what, mom? H-here, I'll go get-"

               "Tooru! Did you just push me?" she asked loudly and she stood up straight and rubbed at her hip.

               It was probably a bad idea to try this right now, but Tooru really didn't have any other choice. He was going to try his best to lie his way through this and use her drunkenness to his advantage. He could either try to lie his way through this, or take the abuse that was bound to come. "What? Oh, mom, I never would dream of touching you or pushing you... Are you okay? You hit your hip hard," he said with a surprised look on his face. He really just hoped he was selling his act well enough.

               It seemed to be working at first as she rubbed at her hip. "I did, I just hope that it's not bruised," she murmured as she stepped a little closer. "I could have sworn I felt your hands on me..." she mumbled and she looked at Oikawa with a raised eyebrow. "Your dad is going to hear about this," she said in a very menacing voice, one that Tooru was could feel chills when the words had started to leave her lips. Tooru was just very worried that he had messed up bad enough that he was going to get punished. He was used to getting punished at this point.

               But getting punished for protecting Hajime was something he would do in a heartbeat. At least, he was protecting their conversations, and in the process, he really was protecting Hajime too. He was protecting him, because if his mother had saw the note, had shown it to Hajime's parents, his parents would have had questions for Hajime. Their whole life together as friends could have been ruined.

               "Oh, where was that paper I saw on the ground? What did you do with it?" his mother asked as she started to look on the ground again. Tooru was hoping that she had forgotten about it, but that hope was wasted. "Whatever it was, don't you be trying to hide things from me, boy," she said as she pointed her finger into Tooru's chest harshly. He tried not to protest at her poking, but it was harsh and it caused him pain. Either way, he kept quiet.

               Finally, she had left and she cleared her throat. "The pajamas!" she called, and Tooru looked towards the hole before darting out to the hall and going into her room and closet. Honestly, was it really Tooru's job to find her silk pajamas like this? He honestly didn't realize his parents cared that much about the order of their clothes in their dressers. But now that he knew, he would keep note of how he put their clothes in and he would make sure everything was the way they would be able to find things.

               After searching for the pajamas for ten seconds, Tooru gave them to her and he took a slap to the face after they were given to his mother. "Your father will be up to give you a beating with the belt when he knows that you've pushed me. He'll also be asking about what you were hiding. Don't think I've forgotten about that."

               It was Tooru's face that probably gave him away, but Tooru really wanted to get away with all of this. He thought things were going so well lately, and for it to all be ruined by a drunk mother was really upsetting. "I'm not trying to hide anything, ma'am. I think what you were trying to pick up was something I had accidentally torn from my study pack, but there weren't any important notes on it. Nothing I really needed, anyway. That was a paper I was probably going to throw away, anyway," Tooru said, trying to hide all of this from his mother. He hoped it was working.

               Eventually, his mother excused him to change and Tooru went to his room, found the note and knocked to see if Hajime was still in his room. He frowned when he didn't hear a knock back, meaning he would have to hold onto this note still.

               The thing was, Hajime really did want to talk with Tooru, but Kunimi was back in his room and wasn't expected to be down for dinner yet. "Hajime, what was that knock?" Kunimi asked with a very puzzled look on his face.

               That was definitely something that Hajime didn't want to explain, but he had to come up with something if he wanted to get away with all of it. "What? I didn't hear a knock," Hajime lied as he looked through his school notes, shrugging a bit. It wasn't very convincing and he knew that Kunimi wasn't likely to let it go.

               "No, there was definitely a knock. It came from that wall there," Kunimi said as he pointed to the wall with the hole in it, the one that Hajime couldn't focus on. Taking a breath and humming a bit, Hajime had to think of something fast if he wanted to keep on lying his ass off to the boy he was kind of hating at the moment.

               If he had taken anymore time to give an answer, Kunimi probably would have gone to ask his parents or something. "Oh, that? The neighbors' bed is against the wall and whenever they get into it the wall knocks a bit. I've learned to ignore it," Hajime said with another shrug as he went to his papers again.

               Having Kunimi over was going to be so annoying for the next few hours. At the very least, Hajime was hoping to have time alone to speak with Tooru. When an hour passed, Kunimi had walked away to go see if he could help with dinner. Hajime was more worried that Tooru wouldn't get another chance to talk to him. He knocked his one little knock to signal that he was there again.

               But that was not the right time for Hajime to knock, apparently, because Tooru was in his room and his father had a whip, as well as cold ice cubes to hold against Tooru's skin. He had tied Tooru up to the bed so he could be whipped and he untied Tooru when he was done, letting out a bit of an evil laughter. "I hope that's the last time you think you can get away with pushing your mother. Also, no breakfast tomorrow. I want you to stay in here all morning and think about what you did."

               The boys had thought that they were doing so well, even though communication was limited lately. But with Tooru being whipped and started the next morning, and Hajime being punished <i>and raped</i> in front of Kunimi after they had dinner, they had a feeling that their life really wasn't going to get better from here on out. All they could do was pray that their friendship and communication would last long enough that they could survive all of this. It was so hopeless that they could only just hold onto the one thing they cherished.

               They only had a little bit of hope left.


	9. Age Sixteen - pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a three part chapter, so there will be two more parts. Also, forgive me if the next chapter is a little shorter. This age does have three parts to it, so I figured that the length wouldn't matter as much as long as it was decent.

_The lives that Tooru and Hajime lived in were lives that absolutely no one would choose to live in._

_Not that either boy knew why they lived these lives, but they had suffered a life where both of their sets of parents had hated them. They never knew why they were being treated the way they were being treated, and it was harder for them to comprehend when they realized that most children had it much better than they did. But there absolutely was a reason that each boy was hated by their parents._

_This is each boy's story_

_\---_

_Hajime's story goes like this, and his has a narrative to it._

_The obstetrician approached the couple carefully, still trying her hardest to maintain a caring and cheerful attitude. Watching as the mother was being fed ice chips by the father, she thought they were a very sweet and sound couple. It was unfortunate that she was there to give them bad news, but it was news they were going to want to know about. "Okay, so I have the results back now. I know why you were experiencing so much pain, ma'am."_

_The couple looked up and there was a look of panic on their faces. It was typical for a young couple such as themselves to be panicking about such things. They were right to be worried, absolutely. "As long as the babies are okay... I can go through pain like that again..." the wife said bravely, looking at her husband before back to the doctor._

_It really wasn't good news that the doctor was about to give to them. "Okay, so I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that one of the twins has been stealing too much nutrition from the other twin, and the twin that was being stolen from is dead now. You will have to carry both babies until full term now, but one of the twins is already dead and will be a stillborn. The good news, though, is that one of the twins is very healthy. The dead one is the girl, the alive one is a boy. I'm sorry to say this, but we do offer services to help you cope with this information."_

_Tension had filled the air and the couple was at a loss for words. They really just didn't know what to do about this information and they really just had a very hard time knowing that their daughter was now dead. The boy was the surprise twin anyway, and they weren't prepared to have them. "Could you give us some time, doctor?" the wife had asked as she took a breath._

_Once the doctor stepped out, the couple looked at one another. "What am I supposed to do now? We were planning on giving the boy up for adoption! The girl was the one I really cared about, the boy was just an extra that we didn't have any solid plans for!"_

_"Well I guess that now, we should come up with a boy themed room and..." the husband tried, but the look on the wife's face had turned sour._

_"You know, I really don't like that idea at all. Not one bit! I guess it's got to happen, but.. What I do know, is that I'm going to make the boy's life hell..." the wife murmured and she looked to the husband. "He killed our daughter, so now he's going to go through as much pain as he has put me through."_

_\---_

_It was very sad to think that a parent was mean enough to make their own child suffer, cause them pain and suffering just because things hadn't gone the way a parent had wanted it to go. This was the very sad truth for Hajime, as his parents had forced him to suffer through life and had made his life a living hell. Anything they inconvenienced him over, they inconvenienced him in a different way and just caused him pain in general. They blamed him for a twin that he never knew that he was supposed to have._

_Now, that was Hajime's story. It was a sad story and one he wasn't going to find out for quite some time. But It was his story, and it was just the life that he lived through._

_\---_

_Tooru, on the other hand, had a different story as to why his parents had come to despise him. Again, this was something they had never told their son, but it was just a very freak coincidence that it had happened this way._

_His story wasn't a normal story. Tooru's story was very strange._

_The day that Tooru was born was originally built up to being the happiest moment of the Oikawas' lives. They were actually excited to have a baby boy and they were going to raise and get the chance to love. On the same day that Tooru was born, though, things were not going as planned. Tooru's birthday was the same day that his grandfather had passed away, the day that his mother's sister had lost her children to her ex husband, the day that their house had been broken into and they would have to move into their current apartment, and it was the day that his father had been turned into the police for, stealing from his work company._

_Now, at first, they just chalked it up to being random and just a bad coincidence. But then, as they started to raise Tooru as a normal child and they were happy to have him in their lives, it seemed that for every single thing that Tooru accomplished, something bad would happen._

_For examples, Tooru had sat up for the first time on his own. On the same day, the kitchen had caught on fire while his father was cooking. When Tooru took his first steps, the dog that the family had gotten had run away on the same day, just later that night. As Tooru said his first word, his mother fell down the stairs and broke her arm, even though Tooru was with his father in the living room, down the stairs._

_None of these things had to be blamed on Tooru, as none of it was actually his fault. All of it was just a freak coincidence that had happened when Tooru had made any life accomplishment, such as his birthday, his first steps or first word, or anything else he accomplished as he grew. But it was just the fact that all of this had all happened on the day that Tooru was brought to life and with anything that should have been a great accomplishment._

_It was so bad that his parents decided that Tooru was actually a very bad luck charm and for his entire life, they had expected him to make up for what had happened on the day he was born and the first year of his life. None of it was his fault, but his parents just couldn't let it go._

_He didn't have control over anything that had happened on his birthday or the first year of his life, he hadn't known anything about why his parents hated him so much, but he had been trying his best to make up for everything he had been blamed for during the first year of his life. Once again, he didn't know that he was trying to make up for everything that had happened to them when he was born, he just knew that his parents were upset at him and he knew that he still had a lot to make up for._

_\---_

_Even though neither of the boys knew why their parents had hated them, they were living in these awful lives and they were still struggling to continue to survive. It was such a hard life to live, but they were okay and surviving with the hand that life had given them. They had do survive, didn't they? They didn't have a choice but to live in the life they were given. It was just something they had to come to terms with._

\---

The tension in the living room was high, as thoughts were running wild and becoming more than overwhelming. Hajime didn't have time to be thinking about what he was going to do about the student council meeting. It was difficult enough to have to lead their grade, but the rest of the students thought he would be a good enough fit for their student body president. It was exhausting, but Hajime had to do it.

Right now, Hajime was pacing in the living room while his parents were still upstairs, getting ready for the biggest match he had of the season. It was really important for him to be there on time, as he was the captain of the team and everyone agreed that they wouldn't start without him. But with his parents taking as long as they were taking, Hajime wasn't sure he was even going to make it on time, meaning he hoped that his vice captain would take charge. It wasn't like Hajime couldn't be substituted in during the game, but he didn't want to ruin the mood of the football team. He shook his head at the knowledge he had learned earlier that day, not being able to shake the idea that Americans had called the sport soccer.

Standing still when he saw his parents come down into the living room from up the stairs, he held onto his water bottle and he was silent, listening to what they were talking about. To be completely fair, Hajime really didn't know what they were talking about, and he didn't think he would really care all that much. The boy had too much else to worry about.

If he had actually listened in, he would definitely care, though. Eventually, he did listen in and pay them some attention, which he was usually told to mind his own business, or something of that effect. "I don't know how we're going to break it to them, though. I mean, it's definitely a bigger house. We will just have to figure out how to use the space. Won't the Oikawas want to protest, though? We've been here for a long time with them and I doubt they will be happy to know that we're moving... They'll have to find new neighbors that aren't suspicious of them."

Frowning a bit, Hajime tilted his head. What were his parents talking about? His dad sighed and shook his head, and Hajime was getting hopeful that his dad was going to say that they weren't moving. It was rare that good things happened to Hajime, though. "I know that, but we never guaranteed that we would stay here and we haven't renewed the lease, we've just been paying rent and they haven't said anything about kicking us out. I know that they'll probably say something, but Tooru is about Hajime's age anyway, so they shouldn't have him around in the apartment for too much longer. Or, if they're like us, they'll want to hold onto him for as long as they can. Just to keep them safe."

It was the sad reality that Hajime had come to over the last couple of years. He had this idea in his head that when he was finally an adult, he would be free. Usually, that was how it happened. But they had been talking about all of this for a while and they knew they would be risking it all by letting Hajime go. So, they always told Hajime that he was never getting free.

But then, it hit Hajime and he turned his head, looking towards the stairs and imagining his room, seeing those notes appearing through the little hole in the wall. If his parents were talking about what he thought they were talking about, this would be the worst thing in the world! It sounded like they were talking about moving, and Hajime really didn't know that he could handle the idea of moving away. It was far too much for Hajime to comprehend and he would probably have to find a way to off himself if he had to go time without Tooru. Tooru was his entire world, but leaving him would cause him more pain than he every wanted to go through. "I guess that's right. Hajime, are you ready? We're already running late."

Looking up, Hajime nodded and stood up straight as he looked over his parents. They looked rather dressed up for this, but he really didn't care. He might've cared more if he knew he had to worry about them getting dirty too, but he didn't have time to worry about that little detail. He didn't have more time to waste. Later, he would worry about his parents complaining that they were dirty from the bleachers.

As they walked out the door, Hajime looked back one more time to Tooru's window. Before the big game, Tooru and Hajime had been having a conversation, all about Tooru and his schooling. It wasn't a long conversation and really, the two boys hadn't had much time to talk as they had gotten older. But anytime that Hajime got to speak to Tooru, it was an absolute blessing.

_Yeah, Hajime. My mom had to hire someone else to come in and teach me. She blames me for being too smart, too! I don't know how to dumb it down at all, especially now that I have this new teacher. It's so weird. I don't know how you do it every day with this whole teacher business..._

_I've learned to deal with it over the years. I don't know how you handled having your mom teach you things for this long. My mother would give me headaches and honestly, she doesn't know what she's talking about half the time as it is. Are you actually learning things from this new teacher? I know your mom wasn't teaching you much at all._

_Well, I guess I am. She's challenging me a little. I've been acing all of the tests still, but she makes them harder and I really have to study. My mom didn't challenge me at all._

_I'm sorry, Tooru. That's really a bummer. I have to go soon though. I have my qualifying match for getting into the semi-finals. I am hoping to take my team all the way to the finals, and my parents will probably make me sleep in the basement again if we lose today, but my team is good and I am hoping to get at least two points over them._

_Good luck! You're good enough to take your team all the way. I'll miss you. Tell me how the match goes?_

_Will do. I love you._

If Hajime had waited any longer, he would have gotten another note from Tooru, saying that he had loved Hajime as well, but he didn't think he could wait longer. He could have as he realized now, but his anxiety about being late was making him nervous about this whole thing. 

As he slid into the back of the car, he buckled up, trying to snap himself back to reality, and he was having different types of anxiety at the moment. One of his anxieties was about being late. The other, though, he thought about not being able to talk to Tooru anymore.

Really, if Tooru had known anything about Hajime being forced to move away, he probably would have cried himself to sleep on the spot, on top of where he was busy doing his physics homework. He had so much more work to get done with this new teacher, and he was still expected to keep up with all of his house work. It was good that Tooru hadn't known about Hajime moving away. 

In all reality, Tooru wasn't given a break, and the only time he was ever really given to talk to Hajime now was late at night. Sometimes, that didn't even happen, between Hajime having science club, football, and then he had student council meetings every other day. He was the class president, too, which meant he had so much more responsibility.

"Tooru! Get your ass down here!" his mother had called and Tooru flinched, finishing his word of the assignment he was writing up before getting up to go see what the problem was. Apparently, it was getting to be dinner time. Apparently, Tooru had not been paying attention to the time well enough and he had been running late with dinner. "Your ass is in so much trouble. If you don't have dinner on the table in fifteen minutes, I'm going to strap you down and rip all of your hair out of your head by hand! I shouldn't have even warned you about any of this and just punished you, but you know? You're lucky that I care about eating tonight," she said, groaning a bit.

That punishment description made Tooru shiver a bit, so he went into the kitchen immediately and looked through the fridge and tried to figure out what he could make in fifteen minutes. Tooru was a master at this, especially when his mom thought he was working the whole time, but he was actually taking a nap because his parents had made him stay up all night doing chores of some sort. So he pulled out a few things, looked in the cupboards, and he scrambled to get a meal together in fifteen minutes.

In that fifteen minutes, Hajime's parents had pulled into the parking lot of Hajime's school, and Hajime didn't have any patience anymore. He didn't care if he had permission to get out of the car yet, because his mom or dad always had to instruct him when it was okay for him to get out. He pulled up the lock and ran out the door. If he paid for that action later, he really just didn't care. He would have to pay later, simply because there were too many people around as witnesses for them to abuse Hajime right here and now.

As the boy ran out to the field and saw that they were all lined up, he went over to his coach and bowed his head. "I am sorry I'm late, coach. Where are we?" he asked, looking out to the field, which seemed to have not started yet. Maybe it had, maybe not, but Hajime wasn't sure yet. One of the teams could have scored already. But there wasn't a point on either scoreboard, so Hajime was hopeful that he had made it in time.

"We haven't started yet. Official! We have our captain here now, so can we adjust the line up?" The coach called to the referee, who nodded and put his flag up to signal that they weren't to start yet.

Feeling a bit of relief, Hajime ran out to his position on the field as he swapped with his teammate, who actually seemed relieved, and he looked ahead to the opponents, before looking to his team. They weren't starting with the ball, so he would have to make sure his defenders were ready for this.

Although, his mind was going through so many conflicting things at the moment that he wasn't really comprehending anything going on at the given time. Hajime really didn't know how much his mind could actually tolerate at the moment. He might just go crazy. Even though he was on the field and he was about to start the most important match he'd played all season long, he couldn't keep his mind on the game alone. His mind was fighting to keep his attention on other things.

All Hajime could think about was Tooru. That was the only thing on his mind, and he wished he could get Tooru out of his mind. He wished that he could get away from thinking about leaving the boy, but that was the only thing his brain had been thinking about right now.

It was unfortunate that Hajime could only think about Tooru, because the game started and the ball flied right by his head, getting his team to frown and question him silently. Usually, Hajime wouldn't let the ball fly by his head. He would have headed it to the ground and stole the ball. But that was just the state of mind he had been at the moment and he was off his mark.

Had this game not been so important, Hajime wouldn't have cared so much that he was missing a few things and was distracted by others. But this game was very important and he cared more than anything that they won this specific game. Or, he cared about this game above most things.

Tooru was the one thing, or person, that he cared about more than some dumb school sport game. That was why his brain was so conflicted at the moment.

Finally, Hajime got into the match mind frame and he started to focus on the game. It wasn't like he was going to be moving homes right at this very moment. There was no way they could pack everything up and leave that night, so he had time to focus on the game. That was where his mind should definitely be..

It was good that Hajime had finally gotten into focus, because he stolen the ball back from their opponents and started to put them on the defensive side of things. Hajime would much rather play an offensive defense than play a defensive offense any day of the week. He'd much rather have a stronger defense that pushed the other team's offense into hysterics.

As the game went on, Hajime had scored three points with the help of his teammates, and that was when the whistle was blown for halftime. While they were heading to go get a drink, the captain from the other team approached Hajime and narrowed his eyes. "How did you suddenly get so good? You've got some nerve to fake us out like that. We've got an eye on you."

Letting out a bit of a laugh, Hajime shook his head and shrugged. "That's fine. Keep an eye on me all you want, and my team will score while you're busy watching me," Hajime said with a smirk as he walked away. He shook his head again as he walked, which was a mistake. Someone from the other team had very discretely stuck their foot out and tripped Hajime while he was talking back to the sideline.

It was also a mistake for Hajime to try to stay on his feet while that happened, because Hajime had tried to hop, but he rolled his other ankle in the process of all of this, which was definitely not an enjoyable thing to experience.

The boy fell on his bum, holding onto his left ankle and biting his lip. He wasn't going to tear up over this, because if this hadn't been a scratch compared to the other things that he had gone through in his life, then he didn't know what was. As he blinked a bit, rubbing at his ankle and moving to stand, he saw his vice captain coming towards him and scowling after the other team. "You okay? I hope you are, we kind of need you..."

Shrugging, Hajime went to take a step and he pulled back, realizing the pain was a little worse than he had originally thought. "I'm sure I will be, but I should probably let my ankle rest for a minute..." Hajime said as he limped back to the sideline, going to sit down next to everyone who was waiting for him to instruct them on what they were going to do next.

As he thought, his mind started to betray him and go back to thoughts about Tooru. He couldn't think about Tooru right now, though, because Tooru couldn't possibly have a way to help him. At least he thought about Tooru telling him good luck before he left, and it had made him smile. "We just have to hold strong on our defenses. We know Kiri can handle the goal and block anything they try to kick his way, but it's up to us to defend the rest of the field. We're already three ahead of them, so as long as we keep it there for the next half, we will be on our way to the semi-finals," Hajime said as he tried to stand again.

That was a failed move, because his ankle really wouldn't let him stand or walk around. "I'm going to trust... Seijuro to fill in for me while my ankle takes time to heal up. I'll be here to shout out instructions, but my ankle can't handle anything more right now... I was tripped by their number six, but we can't let that discourage us," Hajime murmured as he rubbed as his foot, going to take his cleat off.

Time was running out, so the rest of his team reached to pat Hajime on the back before they headed out to the field. That was definitely something that Hajime had to get used to, as his father and mother had conditioned him to not like human touch in the slightest, with all of the rape and other abuse.

The second half started, and although his mind was screaming at him to not look their way, Hajime had stupidly looked the way of his parents. Of course, they were looking at him with narrowed eyes, as if to tell him that they were disappointed. It was nothing new, but it was also the fact that he really didn't need to feel their disappointment at the moment. He was used to feeling their disappointment, but Hajime wasn't sure how much more he could really handle.

Finally, his ankle had allowed him to stand after he put his shoe back on, and he started to pace slowly, working up the strength in his left ankle. "Defense, move up! Their midfield is right with you and they aren't faster than you guys! You guys are the fastest defense in the entire district and they won't get the ball passed you!" Hajime yelled from the sidelines. His coach looked at him and nodded, agreeing that Hajime was making the right call on having the team move up to push their midfield further away from their goal. They also had an offender up there, so they just wanted to keep everyone as far away from their goal as they possibly could.

When there was an illegal move done on the field, the coach had decided that Hajime was good enough to go out on the field without even consulting Hajime about it. His ankle was feeling better, but he wasn't sure that it would be okay to run around on it. Either way, he was in now, and he couldn't go back now. As they subbed out Seijuro, Hajime walked onto the field and looked to all of his teammates. "Defense, move back a little! They're more aggressive than I thought they would be," Hajime said with a growl. It did seem like a good idea at first, but the opposing team was getting more reckless and aggressive with their moves.

It wasn't long that Hajime had been on the field, but he was already starting to feel the pressure of being out on the field with everyone. His ankle was screaming at him, but he had to try his best. Things were just boiling up far too fast right now, and Hajime lurched forward. He hadn't lurched forward on his own, though. He was pushed, or rather, he was hip checked, when the ball was coming towards him. But because he wasn't being grabbed onto, it was legal, and the game had to continue.

Unfortunately, Hajime didn't think it had to continue, nor did his ankle. He fell onto the ground in absolute pain and he stayed on the ground, waiting for the whistle to be blown. Once it had, the coach ran out and all he could see were his parents standing in absolute rage. Nothing was going according to plan right now. Everything was falling apart, and Hajime felt tears come to his eyes.

Really, it was sold to the officials that his ankle was sore and it got him taken off the field just due to the tears that were streaming down the boy's face. But that hadn't been what Hajime was actually crying about. The tears were only there because of everything boiling over and his family was _moving away from Tooru_.

Taking a few moments and having a sport paramedic come over to ice his foot, Hajime was finally beginning to relax and he was no longer crying. The pain was still there, but it was subsiding and just hanging out in Hajime's ankle.

A final whistle blew and Hajime looked up, worried that he had missed too much.

The game was over. His team won, even though their spirits were crushed now that they were fighting without their captain. Hajime didn't even have to go and shake hands with the other team, since his ankle was still sore. But to show what a good sport he was, Hajime did so anyway and the other team came to him so he didn't have to walk as far.

He was allowed to head home and now he knew he would be entering the semi-finals, which was great news, but he didn't know if this great news would make up for the other terrible news he had been given and the pain his ankle was in. He didn't know that anything could make up for what Hajime was feeling about with Tooru on his mind.

As his parents walked over, their faces were lacking all amusement, and it was discouraging for Hajime to see this at the moment. His ankle hurt far too much and his heart was aching greatly, so he didn't need to see the scowling looks on their faces. "Come on, we're going home. I bet you feel great knowing that you didn't help your team win this game at all," his father had said and they started to walk off. Hajime groaned, as he had to nearly hop his way to the car. No one questioned why his parents hadn't offered to help him walk, just because of the community and the types of families that this school had in their system. No one questioned them, and no one cared about Hajime's injury.

Getting into the car was not an easy task. Neither was getting out of the car when they got home. But his parents had expected him to do it all on his own without offering any help. He managed, but it was miserable.

The moment that the three had stepped into the apartment, Hajime had been pushed up against the wall by his father, and he was struggling to breathe with the arm against his throat. "You listen good, boy. If this whole ankle thing screws up our plan of leaving and getting that beautiful new house, you can expect the worst punishment you have ever experienced. Your mother and I have a meeting with the owner of the house tonight, which we have to leave for. If you mess this up for us, though, you'll regret it. We will not rest until you are inches away from death, but you'll still be alive so you can't escape this hell. So you're going to live through this ankle pain while we move."

Once Mr. Iwaizumi had pulled away, Hajime fell over onto the ground and he started to hold onto his throat, which was finally letting air into his lungs. "I understand, s-sir..." Hajime murmured quietly.This was all beyond unfortunate for Hajime to experience. It was just sad to think that even though the ankle pain wasn't his fault, he was still being blamed for it and being expected to act as if it wasn't there.

Slowly moving to stand, he had realized that he had been left alone in the living room and he would have to get up the stairs eventually. His parents didn't seem to care where he was, so Hajime moved his way to his bedroom.

Tooru was in his room at the moment, getting pricked by so many needles and being forced into a punishment for making a fast dinner that neither of his parents had enjoyed. He was being punished for their high expectations that he couldn't keep up with. But then, after this, he would still have to finish his school work before tomorrow morning, which he was struggling to keep up with. These were very unrealistic expectations, but Tooru had to live through them.

His parents were already an hour in with their form of abuse, so they were nearly done, but Tooru was still left in tears and left to cry his eyes out when they had left his room. He didn't know that Hajime was back home already, he didn't realize it had already been three hours. That was part of what had gotten him in trouble tonight, too. He needed to pay more attention to the clock. As he rubbed at his back and pulled back his hand to see that there was in fact blood there, he groaned and he started to untie his ankles.

That was when the blessed knock had come and Tooru was almost instantly at the wall to knock back. The note was there after another few moments, which he was thankful for. Life was far too stressful at the moment and Hajime was the only one who could take away his pain.

Once Tooru had read through the note, he had to blink his way through the tears to make sure he was reading the note right. This couldn't be happening to them... This really couldn't be happening.

_Tooru, I love you, but... I think we will have to end our friendship soon. I have bad news and I wish there was something I could do about it. I just don't know what..._

There was bad news to be had and Tooru didn't know if he could handle bad news at the moment. Bad news from Hajime was the worst kind of bad news. He could handle hearing bad news from his parents, he could handle hearing the convenient store worker telling him that they were out of a certain food, but hearing bad news from Hajime was the absolute worst, and there was no way that Hajime would build up a message by saying it was bad if it wasn't actually bad.

Sighing, Tooru scribbled a note back to Hajime and he pushed it through the hole, knocking to signal that there was a note for Hajime to see.

It took Hajime a little more time to knock back than Tooru was expecting, because Tooru hadn't realized that Hajime was limping to get the notes and put notes back in the hole. He would just stand there so he didn't have to move around so much, but Hajime was just in so much pain that he had to put his ankle up at any chance he had.

As Hajime took the note that Tooru had given him, he sighed and threw himself back onto his bed, wondering just how he was going to explain, after he read Tooru's questioning response.

_Bad news? As long as you are okay, it can't be that bad... But what's the news?_

This was going to give Hajime a headache if he had to go through and explain it all. He didn't know if it was even going to happen, but it was still a terrible thought, just to think that he could possibly have to leave Tooru. But if he got a headache, he got a headache.

Taking time to write out a note, he realized slowly that this was the longest note that he had ever sent to Tooru. Regardless, it was something that had to be said and it was something that Tooru deserved to know. Once he stood up to knock and send the note through, he watched as the note disappeared quickly. He knew this note would take a while for Tooru to read through and digest, so Hajime went back to his bed to lay down.

It surprised Tooru to see how much Hajime had written, but he figured that the note was going to be long, since Hajime had taken a long time to send a note back to him. Although, that wasn't always the case, since their notes were sometimes delayed by their horrid parents. "O-oh Hajime..." Tooru whispered as he started to read everything that his best friend had written.

_So the first thing I need to say is I love you and I care about you. I want you to always remember that. No matter what happens, I want you to know that above everything that I love you. Secondly, I know you want to know about my game. My team won, but the other team hurt my ankle and I'm limping right now. It's okay, though. I'm managing. It was still their fault, because they tripped me during halftime, but I can handle this. Third, and it's the bad news, but... I'm moving. My parents decided to move to a bigger house they found and they have been telling me that I'm never moving out of their house. So even though I'm close to being an adult, even though we should technically be on our own and be allowed to live without them, they won't let me go. So I won't be able to talk to you anymore... I am going to miss you so much, I want to stay here, but it's not going to happen... I'm so sorry, Tooru... Just remember that I love you._

This whole note had made Tooru want to vomit. He closed his eyes and he started to tear up even more. It was just such a terrible thing to read! He didn't want to lose his best friend, he didn't want to have to go without Hajime and he certainly didn't want to deal with his parents all on his own without anyone to talk to about them. This was really just a very depressing thing to think about, and Tooru wasn't sure there was anything they could do about it.

His mind was constantly thinking though, and he started to scrawl back a note. Maybe they didn't have to lose each other. Maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to stay together. There was no guarantee that this would work, but Tooru was desperate and he was willing to try just about anything to keep Hajime around. He had been with Hajime for this long, for nearly eight years now, and he had lived with the boy for far too long to lose him now.

He knew that he had a plan, he knew he had to tell Hajime about it and he knew that he could make this work, because he wanted this to all work. There was no way that Tooru was going to let this plan fail just because their parents wanted it to fail. Nothing was standing in Tooru's way of making this plan all work.

Except, there was someone standing in the way. The second after Tooru had knocked on the door, Mr. Iwaizumi had come into Hajime's room and looked at his son. It was very unfortunate, but Tooru listened in on the conversation. "You know, after your little attempt to vanish last time we were gone, I can't risk you trying to disappear this time around. So I'm going to make sure that you can't disappear this time when we leave. And just to make extra sure and to be positive that you won't even want to try to run, I'm going to make it even more impossible."

That was when Tooru had heard screams, louder than he had ever heard from Hajime before, and the screams were coming through the wall and they pierced through his soul. Hajime's screams continued to grow even louder, longer, and it was like a sound Tooru had never heard before. What was Mr. Iwaizumi doing to his poor best friend? Rage and worry started to build up inside Tooru, and all of his thoughts were for Hajime.

All Tooru could do was just hope and pray that Hajime would survive whatever it was that his father was putting him through. If they had any chance of getting out of their current situations, Hajime would have to be okay.

Hajime was okay... wasn't he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses as to what Mr. Iwaizumi did to Hajime?


	10. Age Sixteen - pt. 2

Once the note had been sent through, Hajime had gone back to sit down on his bed and rest his ankle. He would have tried to wrap it, or ice it, but he knew his parents wouldn't be okay with him using some of their ice, and they would just tell him to take the wrapping off. So it was pointless. But at the very least, he could put his ankle up in the air and he could do his best to rest it as he waited for Tooru to read through and respond to his letter.

There was a fear of dread that started to course through Hajime as he heard footsteps start to head up the stairs. It was such an awful feeling, but he never had any idea if his parents were going to just barge into his room or not. He had learned to be prepared for anything, so he had decided that he would assume that his dad was coming to his room. He knew it was his dad, too, because he could usually distinguish between the sounds of the different footsteps. His dad walked on the heavier side, and his mother's footsteps were lighter and dainty sounding.

Taking a breath, he was sad to hear the knock as his dad came in his room. He would just have to see the note afterward. If he even had a chance, that is. With his parents, he never knew if he had a chance or not. But right now, he was hoping he would have a chance and he was moving away soon. Not that his parents knew or could know about the predicament this left him in if they took away his last few chances, but it would still nearly murder him if he had to miss out.

Looking up to his father, he sat up and waited for whatever it was his father wanted to say or do. Mr. Iwaizumi had cleared his throat and he had a bit of a smirk on his face. "You know, after your little attempt to vanish last time we were gone, I can't risk you trying to disappear this time around." Right then, his father had come closer and attached a pair of handcuffs to his bed, and he attached the other end to Hajime's wrist. Hajime wasn't too terribly worried about the handcuff keeping him on the bed, because he had figured out a way to release them on his own. But he would just have to keep them latched until his father left. 

"So I'm going to make sure that you can't disappear this time when we leave." If this was his way of 'making sure', his father really had to think about this a little better. This wasn't going to keep Hajime locked down at all. But then, his father produced a sledge hammer, and Hajime cocked an eyebrow. There was no way this could be good. "And just to make extra sure and to be positive that you won't even want to try to run, I'm going to make it even more impossible."

The sledge hammer was set down onto the bed, and his father also put a pair of handcuffs around the ankle that was sprained, tightened it a little too far to the point that Hajime had to bite down on his lip, and he attached it to the end of his bed frame. This wasn't going to be good. "S-sir... what are you going to do?" Hajime asked as his father picked up the sledge hammer again.

It wasn't very common or usual for Hajime to try to fight back, but there was no way that he could in this situation. Hajime watched a smirk appear on his father's face, and he felt the horrors start to creep inside of him. Watching Mr. Iwaizumi pulled the sledge hammer up, above his head, he saw the directory of the hammer and he had to close his eyes.

That was when the sledge hammer made contact with his sprained ankle, and Hajime let out a scream louder than he had let out before. It was a scream so powerful and throat-wrenching that it was causing him pain, but not nearly as much pain as what the hammer had just caused. He felt the sledge hammer make contact again, and that was when another scream was produced from his throat. It was even louder and more powerful than the last scream, as he was pretty sure he felt something snap within his foot. This was what real pain felt like, wasn't it? He would take being raped over this, any time at all, because this had to be the most horrendous sensation he had ever felt.

Snickering and walking out of the room, Mr. Iwaizumi had left Hajime alone to his tears and his sobbing emotions. Hajime was left nearly hyperventilating from the pain he was experiencing, all thanks to his father. At the moment, he couldn't even think about Tooru. He couldn't think about moving, or his soccer team, or _anything_ other than the pain his ankle was currently in. It had to be the worst sensation in the world at the moment.

He had no idea how much time had passed, or how long he had been crying and sobbing, but the pain was actually slowly subsiding. It wasn't completely gone, but at the very least, it was going away. He was still trembling and shaking a bit, but that was when he heard the knock from his wall and he looked over to the hole. His parents weren't around, as he could vaguely remember the front door opening and shutting, but he wasn't able to get free at the moment, let alone walk to go see another message from Tooru. "Tooru! I-I am cuffed to the b-bed..." Hajime yelled, hoping that Tooru could hear him.

"That's okay. If you can tell me how to get you out of them, I will be over there to help soon," Tooru had said in a softer voice, probably because he didn't need his parents to hear him. What was Tooru going on about? Why would he be over there soon anyway? That was definitely a mystery, but Hajime really couldn't think of anything else.

What Tooru had devised at a plan had only been hurt by Hajime's current predicament, but he hoped to go that this was still going to work. Tooru had to time everything and he had to make sure that everything went as smoothly as possible. "Tooru! You'd better fucking stay in your room while we are gone! We'll be back shortly!" Mrs. Oikawa had yelled up the stairs.

Just after Tooru had heard Hajime's screams and cries of agony, he had watched as Hajime's parents had left. He didn't know where they had gone, or how long they would be away for, but it was Tooru's chance. The crying continued from Hajime's room, which made Tooru pout and feel so bad, but he had to make sure that Hajime's parents were actually gone now. He had to make sure that this plan was spaced out perfectly.

After a few minutes, Tooru ran down the stairs, put on his fake, but most believable look of worry, and he gasped to his parents, pointing towards the door. "H-hajime! He just... He just ran out of his house, a-and I think his parents car is gone," he said in a worried voice. "Were y-you told to watch him? Because I'd hate for anything to happen to him... He had his backpack and a hoodie on!" Tooru said as he put his hands up to his head, as if he was actually worried.

His parents had tensed up and they looked at one another. But they took no time at all to go get their shoes and jackets on. "I don't think they told us to keep an eye on him, did they?" his father had asked as his mother shrugged her shoulders. "They might have mentioned something last week sometime. I don't know, but I don't want him to get away. And Tooru, go up to your room. Got it? You're going to stay here and wait for us to return," his father had said as he narrowed his eyes. "If we find the house at all unsatisfactory for when we get home, you'll be expected to do double the work for tonight and tomorrow."

Nodding and going to the stairs. "Just, please... Find him. A-after last time, I don't want something to happen to him. I thought he would know better by now..." Oikawa murmured, hoping that what he had said didn't give anything away. He also hoped that they would just take his word for it.

Luckily enough for Tooru, they did believe him, and he made it back to his room, spoke to Hajime in that time, and he watched out the window for his parent's car to drive down the road. He was also grateful that they both went, not just one. But Tooru had known he could get them to both leave and they were likely to believe him, as they had drank a full bottle of wine that night.

As the car had gotten far enough down the road, Tooru prepared a bag very quickly, put on his shoes, shoved every single letter from Hajime over the years into the bag, and he went back to his window. The boy had opened the window up, and he had hopped out onto the roof that hung over their front porch. Then, Tooru had carefully climbed over to Hajime's window, since the overhang was shared between both of their respective porches, only to find that it was locked. There wasn't anything in the way, thankfully, and Hajime was safely on his bed. He did look to be in pain, but honestly? That had to be the least of his concerns at the moment.

Taking a breath and reminding himself that he had been through worse pain, Tooru pulled his fist back and he clenched it. Just as he was about to punch the window to hopefully break it, he stopped himself and looked down to his feet. They were boots. He was wearing boots, so why didn't he think of this first? As Tooru balanced himself, he pulled his leg back and prayed to the heavens that he didn't lose his balance. He kicked at the window, and luckily enough, the window had cracked. "Wow... that hurt," Tooru said with a grimace.

Doing the same thing again, the crack had grown larger in the window. Tooru repeated his actions over and over until the glass finally broke, and Tooru was able to break off enough pieces to climb through the window safely, without hurting himself. "Tooru..." Hajime had said in a croaked voice, and it was very hoarse from all of his screaming just minutes ago. "Y-you're going to get m-me in trouble... My window is broken..." Hajime said.

The sight in front of him was very sad to see. Hajime's hand and ankle were handcuffed, and although he could remember Hajime telling him that he was able to get out of the cuffs now, he was just lying there, all stretched out and still trembling a bit. "Not if we get out of here, I won't. We're leaving. Let's get you out of these things," Tooru had said as he reached for the one by Hajime's ankle. It didn't dawn on Tooru that this was Hajime's sprained ankle, so as he touched it, Hajime let out another cry of pain. "Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Tooru said as he pulled his hand back quickly, looking up to see Hajime's face in absolute agony.

After Hajime started to breathe, he opened his eyes and looked at Tooru. "My father... he broke my ankle I'm pretty sure... He smashed in twice with a damned sledge hammer..." Hajime had said as he tried to reach his free hand to the cuff around his wrist, so he could get it undone. "There's a little lever inside... here, you see where the cuffs tighten and loosen? You just have to push it down and the cuff will release. Don't mind me if I yell again. My ankle is just in so much pain right now..." Hajime said as he tried his best with the position he was in. He was glad his parents were cheap enough to buy the sex handcuffs, the ones that were easier to release and didn't require a key to open them. There still was a key, but this was just the easier way to get out.

Hajime was relieved to know that he had managed to get his cuff off, but he tensed up and sat up quickly when Tooru was struggling with the other cuff around his ankle. "Hey, uh... maybe I can get it," Hajime said as he reached down and felt Tooru pulling his own hands away. Hajime had gotten the cuff off of his ankle. He should have figured this one would be more difficult, as his father had banged on his ankle less than a half hour again. The metal was probably bent. "So, we're leaving... Where are your parents?" Hajime asked as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, tensing up again as his injured foot had hit the ground.

Looking back up, Tooru took a breath. "They're actually out looking for you, since your parents are gone. I told them you ran and since your parents' car is gone, you were probably trying to run away when I faked seeing you leave. It means we will have to go down random streets and alleys as we run, but we can do it this time. I know we can," Tooru said as he looked around to find Hajime's school back. He dumped it out of all of the books and such, he left a newer notebook inside, as well as some pens, and then he started to look around the room to see what clothes he could grab him.

Taking a moment to think about all of this, Hajime wasn't too sure he was keen on leaving with a broken ankle. Hell, he didn't even know if he could make it down the stairs, let alone walk far enough out of town so they wouldn't be recognized. But this was their only chance at freedom, and their only chance to stay together for as long as they possibly could. So Hajime was going to take it. "Grab my soccer sweatshirt from the closet too? In case it gets cold?" Hajime asked as he pushed himself up to stand, putting all of the weight on his decent ankle.

It didn't take long for Tooru to grab Hajime a few outfits, and he thought for a moment. "My parents didn't leave money lying around this time... Your parents wouldn't happen to have any at all, right?" Tooru asked.

"Actually... they might. I don't know why, probably due to the move, but they've been saving money and I've seen my dad throw some money in the box under the dresser. It's a green box." Hajime was using the wall as support to try to walk, but it was failing miserably. There was no way that he'd be able to support his full weight while walking. Tooru disappeared to go see if he could find the money that Hajime was speaking of, and sure enough, there was a green box under the dresser. Tooru pulled it out and pulled out all of the cash, not caring that they were stealing all of the money from Hajime's parents. They had stolen enough from Hajime, so it was time for revenge.

Once Tooru came back, he saw Hajime had made it to his desk chair and he had pulled out an old pencil case. But it was stuffed full of letters, Tooru assumed. Then there was another one, and finally, a folder with their messages in it as well. He then tried to shove them into his bag and he zipped it back up. "Was it there like I thought it was?" Hajime asked as he tried to stand.

Unfortunately, when he tried to stand, he put weight on his ankle and he had stumbled down to the ground once more, letting out a groan. Tooru was quick to come closer and offer out help, putting his arms out for Hajime to pull himself up onto. When Hajime was standing, Tooru realized that he still had his arms around Hajime, but the boy flinched gently. Tooru pulled away and put his hands up. "Yes, it was there. I can help you walk, you know. You don't have to struggle with this all on your own," Tooru said softly as he bit his lip and looked Hajime over.

The boy looked to be in a tremendous amount of pain, but they were already going to be in deep shit anyway, regardless of if they tried this or not. So Tooru wasn't going to give up this chance. Hajime had let out a sigh. He knew it was going to be difficult and he wasn't sure he wanted to deal with the struggle, but Hajime was really just ready to go. He wanted to stay with Tooru for as long as possible. He would have to bite through the traumas of Tooru helping him walk, as he still wasn't comfortable with being touched. He was a little more accustomed to it now, as his soccer team would pat him on the back and he would have opponents try to steal the ball from him at soccer games. He also had to work closely to his science club team when they were competing. "Thank you, Tooru..." Hajime said quietly.

The other boy took that as approval to come closer and he approached Hajime carefully, showing him where his hands were going before touching Hajime. He put an arm around his lower back and he held onto Hajime. Tooru could feel Hajime squirm a bit, but he let Hajime get comfortable before he started to move, they both had their backpacks and they were all ready to go. "Oh, Tooru? Thank you for doing all of this..." Hajime said as they started to walk. He had let out a grunt, but having Tooru there to help was definitely a big help. Tooru smiled and nodded to Hajime, but he was just too focused on helping him walk to respond.

It took them longer than they were anticipating to get down the stairs, but they finally decided it would be better for Hajime to scoot down the steps on his butt, rather than trying to walk it. They also made it out the door and down the porch steps. "We've got this, you know? We can make this happen. It's going to work this time," Tooru had said as they started to walk down the sidewalk of their street. This time, it was later in the day, and they were also older now, so no one would dare pay them too much attention when they were out on their own this time.

The process was very slow going, as Hajime had to take breaks and Tooru looked for a good spot for them to sit down. There was a parking lot, and there was a little curb for Hajime to sit down on, so Tooru took him that way and let him sit. "You're doing good, you know that? Especially with a broken ankle," Tooru had said as he sat down next to Hajime. The boys sat close to one another and Hajime let out a bit of a sigh, but Tooru knew it was because Hajime was frustrated with the circumstances they were in to try to escape into the world. But they had to get away. They had to escape, because they had gone through hell long enough at this rate.

If they waited any longer, Hajime was going to get too frustrated and he was going to go insane. His ankle was still causing him so much pain, his hip and lower back started to hurt from the way they were walking, but at least they were making it out of there. They had made it off of their street and they had gone a very random route. Hopefully, it was one that neither of their parents would be looking at currently. At least it was only Tooru's parents looking for now. Hajime had hoped that his parents were still looking at their new home. "We should get going," Hajime said with a groan, shaking his head a bit. He was starting to get a little too antsy just sitting there. He needed to move.

The anxiety in the air was high at the moment as they watched a police car drive by them. They watched as the person in the car looked at them. Their immediate thought was that the police were after them at the moment. But luckily enough, the cop car just kept driving. "Yeah, let's get moving so we don't have to deal with any other cop cars right now. I don't want to get caught this time," Tooru said as he stood. He helped Hajime stand and took his position to help the boy walk.

They were getting further and further into the town once again, and it seemed to be the same area where they had ended up the last time they were here. "Hey, maybe we can stop for food, or at least something to drink? I forgot to grab water this time and I am getting parched," Tooru had said as he continued to walk with Hajime at his hip.

With a nod, Hajime agreed. He wasn't sure how long they had been walking, or even where they were at the moment, but Hajime knew that he was thirsty and he would need a drink of something very soon. Tooru had found another random convenient store and there was a bench outside of this one, so he set Hajime down on the bench and he crouched in front of him. "I'll be back. I'm going to see if I can find anything to help with your ankle, too," the boy had said before standing back up and going inside.

There was no way luck could be on their side for much longer, could it? Hajime and Tooru never had luck, and there was no way they could stay lucky for as long as they seemed to be staying lucky. But it seemed as though their luck was going to continue. It seemed like the boys were going to stay on the better side of things, because Hajime had watched Tooru come out with a bottle of water, and then he was holding a bag of items too. "Okay, so they had this... bandage that's supposed to support you if you have a sprained ankle. The lady at the counter also suggested these? I've seen my parents take them before, so I know they are safe to take, and they are supposed to relieve pain. And then, she suggested this..."

Standing a little closer, Tooru had pulled out a small, silver item. But Tooru had jerked it a bit, and it turned out to be some sort of cane. "Whoa, that's nice. So I just walk with it?" Hajime asked. Tooru had nodded and he handed Hajime the bottle of pain killers as he crouched down in front of Hajime once more. He had pulled out the bandage and he bit his lip, knowing that he had seen videos from his schooling about how to wrap one of these things.

Letting out another little whine, Hajime tried his best to stay still as Tooru wrapped it. "I'm sorry, Hajime. It has to be tight to help, though. She also said that it would take a while for the pain medicine to work, so I can help you walk until it starts to help. Sound like a plan?" Tooru asked as he fastened the ace bandage around Hajime's ankle.

This was far too much. Tooru was doing so much for him, he was helping him so much right now, and all Hajime could do was use him for support. But honestly, he wasn't sure of another way to do so. He wasn't sure there was really another way for the two of them to do any of this. "Yeah, it does. Can I have some water to take these?" Hajime asked. Tooru passed him the bottle of water and Hajime had taken two like the bottle had suggested, not wanting to get sick from taking too many.

After another few moments, the two boys stood up again. "Let's keep going. We're going to make it to get on a bus and we are going to get out of here," Tooru had said. He seemed to be a little bit desperate to leave, if Hajime was being completely honest at the moment. But Hajime really didn't blame Tooru at the moment, not for wanting to get out of town. They were both so fed up with their home lives that it was definitely time for the boys to want out.

They continued to walk, and they started to chat. "Any idea what we're going to do if we actually do manage to escape this place?" Hajime had asked, wondering briefly if Tooru had any other plans after this. But really, it wasn't an issue if the boy didn't have any plans. They would have time to figure that all out, they just needed to get away from there first.

Shaking his head, Tooru let out a sigh. Hajime seemed to be using Tooru less and less, but he still wasn't ready to put all of the pressure on his ankle just yet. He still needed the boy for support. "Not exactly, but all I know is that we have to get out. If... we can get to the bus station and just get away, far enough away, then we can figure out what we should do after that. I just didn't want to lose you, Hajime, which is why I wanted to get out and as far away as we possibly could before they took you away."

As little as Hajime had felt this feeling in his life, a feeling of joy and happiness had started to form inside of his chest. It was this feeling that caused Hajime to smile for the first time in weeks. Tooru was the cause of the majority of his smiles throughout the years the boys had known each other. It was hearing Tooru say that he didn't want to lose Hajime had made that smile grow and it was what caused this feeling inside his chest. "I don't want to lose you either," he said as he continued to lean into his best friend. Right now, he wasn't sure he wanted to pull away, even if his ankle had started to feel better. He was starting to feel more and more comfortable with Tooru touching him, simply because he was coming to the realization that Tooru would never hurt him.

Once they had walked for probably an hour more, they were taking another break in a different park than the last one they were in, and they were just trying to relax when someone came over to them. She was a very random girl, and both Tooru and Hajime tensed up. "So I saw you two boys walking and struggling, but I wanted to ask if the two of you wanted or needed a ride somewhere? It just breaks my heart to think that you're walking on a bad leg when I can offer you a ride."

The pair of boys looked at one another. Had they just caught another break? Were they becoming even luckier right now? They didn't know how to handle this much luck on their side, and they were going to keep their guards up, because it was likely to all come falling down on them. "Are you certain you want to offer us a ride?" Tooru asked quietly, looking back at the lady. "We need to get to the bus station, I have no idea how far that is..."

A feeling of anxiety continued to fester between the boys. There was no way this was going to be as good as it seemed on the surface. "Oh, the bus station is actually not too far, and it's close to where I live anyway!" the lady had said. "I know I'm just a stranger and I know that usually, strangers wouldn't be so kind to random teenagers, but I can tell that you boys are exhausted and you've gone through enough. If you don't accept my offer, I won't be offended, but just know that I have no ill intentions for you boys and I just want to help. If you _wanted_ , my sister is training to be a nurse and I could have her take a look at you?"

This was too good to be true, and neither boy knew how to handle such good things, especially when they happened to them. Hajime cleared his throat and sighed a bit, wondering where he had to draw the line. They just weren't used to things like this. "Ma'am, we greatly appreciate the offer, but I think it might be best if we just take the ride to the bus station. We just have to get out of town. Thank you for the offer, though. My ankle will hold for a little while longer," Hajime said,

As Hajime looked at Tooru, he seemed to agree with what he had said. It was such a random blessing that they had ran into this lady. Who just gave out free rides to random teenagers? Neither Tooru nor Hajime knew that it was a thing, but they were just grateful to have this chance. "Splendid! My car is just across the street. Do you think you can make it there? Or should I pull the car up closer?" the lady had asked.

Shaking his head, Hajime was determined to get to the car on his own, without any more help than this lady was already offering. "I can make it. Thank you, again. You really don't have to do this," Hajime had said. The lady seemed to be more than just a little excited about all of this. It was rather unsettling. Should they really trust her? "I have to ask. Why are you being so nice to random kids?" Hajime asked as he pushed himself up and Tooru helped him stay balanced. He took the cane from Tooru and tested his ankle out. It hurt like hell, but at least he was able to put pressure on it slightly now.

When asked the question, the lady had shrugged her shoulders a bit. "I've just made it a goal to do one good deed a week. I know it seems odd, but it's really doing good for me and my karma," she said softly and there was a very cheerful, brilliant smile on her face. Apparently, this was just meant to be a good thing for the pair of them. They had no idea how it had happened, and they really couldn't care why at the moment, but their luck seemed to be going strong.

"Are you sure about this?" Tooru had asked quietly as they started to follow the lady out of the park and to the street.

Both boys were still keeping their guards up, as they had never been treated so nicely before. Sure, they had been treated fairly over the years, but it was never this nice, and it was never to benefit them in any way. So they kept their guards up. "Not really, but don't we have to give this a chance? At the rate we were going, we wouldn't make it to the bus station for another two hours." Hajime did have a point, since his ankle was causing them to struggle more than usual.

Letting out a sigh, Tooru nodded. "I guess we should give it a go. She seems nice enough anyway, and it would be nice to get a break," Tooru said. The wind blew Tooru's hair into his eyes and they stopped walking right before they crossed the street. Hajime looked over at the boy, who was trying to fix his hair, and for some reason, he really couldn't help the way he wanted to help. Reaching a hand over, he pushed Tooru's hair back and out of his eyes, getting to see that brilliant pair of brown eyes that he really hadn't gotten a chance to appreciate over the years. It also wasn't something he would normally appreciate, but with Tooru, he felt like he could.

After the hair incident, the two boys crossed the street and went towards the kind lady's car, who was just unlocking the vehicle. "Okay, so if you want, you can sit up in the front seat there because there's more space up front than in the back. Or, you can sit in the back, I just don't want to hurt your ankle more than it already is."

Both boys felt a twinge of anxiety over what she had just offered. There was absolutely no way the boys were going to split up. At the same exact time, they started to say, "We'll sit in the back."

They all laughed about that and Hajime climbed into the back seat before Tooru climbed in as well. Both boys took off their back packs and settled them on their laps, and Tooru had reached over to Hajime for a moment, touching his hand. "We're getting out of here finally," he said. That caused a whole new swill of emotions to build inside of Hajime. He wasn't used to feeling emotional because he was happy, but that was because he wasn't used to feeling happiness.

The tears had started to form, and for the first time in his life, they were actually happy tears. "We are, yeah," Hajime said. Their hands were connected and it was odd for both boys, but it really just felt right to the two of them. As the lady had started to drive, they watched the streets change and the signs pass by. There were signs for so many things out in this city.

After a ten minute drive, the boys saw a sign for the bus station, and they were thrilled to finally have this chance. They were so close to getting out of town, so close to having their chance at freedom. The lady parked the car and unlocked the doors for the two boys. Heartbeats were growing faster at this rate, and both boys were nearly vibrating from how close they were to getting out of this city.

It was odd that neither boy had to wait for permission to get out, but when the lady had gotten out of her seat, the two boys figured that they were going to confuse her if they didn't get out soon. So the boys started to get out and neither of them wanted to let go just yet, but they had to pull away to get out of the car. Hajime nearly fell when he put too much pressure on his ankle, but Tooru had gotten out of the car much faster and he was already there to help him. "Thank you so much for your help. I don't know how we could ever show our gratitude..." Tooru said as he held Hajime up.

The lady smiled and pushed the blonde hair out of her face. "It's no problem at all. What are your names again, though?" she asked softly. "My name is Yachi Hitoka, by the way."

Smiling gently, both boys cleared their throats. "I'm Tooru, this is Hajime. Thank you for all of your help, Ms. Yachi," Tooru had said sweetly. Hajime smiled once again, offering it to the girl standing before them. "We should be going. You've been a big help," Tooru said as he turned and Yachi nodded. The smile on her face was large too as she walked back to get in her car. The boys watched her walk away and they both adjusted their bags.

It felt like they couldn't get any luckier. If things were going to stay this good for a while, both boys would have to start looking at life a little differently. "Ready to get out of here?" Tooru had asked as he pulled cash out of his pocket and offered his arm to Hajime to help him walk still. Even though Hajime was able to do so with the cane, neither boy was really too ready to let go of one another.

Things felt like they really couldn't get better. They were starting to think that nothing could go wrong, they were beginning to believe that they wouldn't have to live in this hell anymore. As they stepped towards the entrance of the bus station, having to go across the sidewalk, their eyes had caught onto a very familiar set of bodies, who were walking towards them.

It seemed as though their luck had run out, as the pair that were walking in their direction were absolutely, without a doubt, Mr. and Mrs. Oikawa. What were the chances that the boys were going to make it out alive anyway?

"I guess this is it... We made it this far. It was nice knowing you," Oikawa said. He squeezed Hajime's hand and gave him a sad look, before walking slowly out towards where his parents could see him. Their luck had finally run out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel evil, ahaha.


	11. Age Sixteen - pt. 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Such an emotional goodbye this is going to be to this fic. I have adored writing this story from day one, and even though there are some mistakes and flaws, I hope you have all loved it as much as I have. I wouldn't have been able to write this if if weren't for the help of my friends. They've been incredible with the support, and I couldn't thank them enough. I also have to thank all of my readers for giving me the confidence to continue! All of you readers made me want to continue with this. I also don't know how I could possibly thank you enough. Maybe with another IwaOi, fluffy oneshot?

Those words echoed through Hajime. Those very words caused a stinging sensation inside of Hajime, and there was absolutely no way that the boy was just going to accept defeat like this. If he was going to accept defeat like this again, like he had when he originally found out he was moving to a new apartment and his life was originally ruined, he might as well have gotten hit by a car and died in the accident. Now, moving had been the best thing that had ever happened to him once he had met Tooru, but before he had met his next door neighbor, his life was miserable. He could still remember it like it was yesterday...

\---

_Hajime, are you kidding me right now? What in the world is this? Why does the principal want to talk to you about your school conduct?" his mother had yelled as she shoved the official document in his face and forced him to look up at her. Hajime was doing his best to keep it all together, but he was starting to get emotional about all of this. He knew very well why the school was calling his parents in for a meeting, but he was just too afraid to fess up about it._

_"I might know why... When we were asked to draw someone from our family, I... drew dad, but they didn't really like my drawing I guess... I thought it looked really good, but they didn't like how I gave him horns and how... how I drew him with a paddle..." Hajime looked away, very scared of what was going to happen._

_He had been right to be scared about all of this, because Hajime was going to regret the drawing the moment his father came home and beat his backside with an actual paddle. Once the family had made it to the meeting, they started to investigate the family over child abuse. Hajime had learned his lesson, because he had been tied up in the basement every night after the initial incident, until his parents found a new place to go. He was miserable because the drawing had made him popular with the kids at school and they were all starting to like him more, simply because he spoke his mind about his father._

_That was when the family had to move, though, because they didn't need to get caught up in an investigation. Hajime had learned his lesson then, and it caused him to lose everything that had mattered to him._

\---

But Hajime was not ready to lose everything again. Hajime was not ready to lose the one thing that had given meaning to his life. Hajime was not ready to lose Tooru and the boy had instilled the drive to fight for what he wanted inside of him, particularly with everything they had been doing that night.

Feeling nearly every emotion at that moment, Hajime reached out and grabbed at Tooru's shirt. It couldn't just be _over_  like this. They couldn't just give up trying, nor could they give themselves away for even just a minute. So there Hajime was, holding onto Tooru's shirt and holding him back from stepping out into the street lamp light. "Hey... Tooru, hold on," Hajime whispered as he pulled the boy back a bit.

The look on Tooru's face had been one of curiosity. Why exactly was Hajime pulling him back? They were going to be dead as it was, so wouldn't it be better to give themselves up, rather than running and getting in even more trouble? Tooru, for one, didn't want to get in more trouble than he absolutely had to. He was also more than willing to sacrifice himself for Hajime, so that was why he was willing to give himself up and give Hajime more time to get away. "Hold on why? They're coming towards us, we can't... there's no way out for us anymore, Hajime," Tooru said with a pitiful look, which did seem to be truly sad.

It wasn't that Hajime took joy in seeing Tooru look sad they way he looked. It was probably one of the worst feelings, if he was being honest. But right now, Hajime had a smile on his face. "Have they actually seen us, or are they just walking this way? To me, it looks like they are just talking..." Hajime said as he slowly pulled Tooru around the column with him, getting out of view from the people that they could see walking around them and on the sidewalk.

That was when it seemed to hit Tooru, and he was going to be hopeful with Hajime. He didn't know just how much he believed the boy. Hell, he didn't know that he wanted to believe him and have this whole idea backfire on them, just so they got into more trouble. But there they were, trying Hajime's idea out and he was just going to trust that Hajime knew what he was talking about. "I love you..."

After hearing that, Hajime shot Tooru another sad look, and it was one that was saying that he didn't want to hear that Tooru had loved him. Not when they were going to have so much time to say that to one another, not as a last words kind of deal. "I love you too, but be quiet..." Hajime said in a near whisper, looking out passed the material of the column to see just how close the parents were getting. They really were getting close, but they were just talking in such angry voices. They stopped a young mother and asked her if she had seen a boy with black, spiky hair, but the pair continued to walk when the Oikawas had gotten no information from her.

"Where do you think he went? He could be anywhere right now! Should we call the police?" Mrs. Oikawa said, and her voice was wrecked from the alcohol that was still coursing through her body. She obviously was drunk and had no clue where she was.

That was when Mr. Oikawa cleared his throat. Hajime pulled his head back, but the two boys could still their voices. "I don't know, but I know that they can't make us responsible for this when they didn't even ask us to keep an eye on him. I would have said no anyway, just because we've been drinking," Mr. Oikawa replied as he groaned an looked around. They continued to walk and neither pair thought to go look in the bus station. They didn't think that Hajime would have the nerve to try to take a bus out of town. "We shouldn't bother with the police either, and just remind them that he's not our kid and they didn't ask us to watch him!"

Feeling like Hajime and Tooru were both respectively holding their breaths as the Oikawas walked passed the building and decided to turn around to go back to wherever they came from, neither of them were comfortable to let go of the breath until they looked towards the street to see that they were actually gone. The exhale that happened between the two of the boys collectively, the two boys looked at each other in a questioning way. "So..." they each said at the same time.

That was when they both started to let out snickers and laughs. They were laughs of joy and all of the fear they had been feeling was nearly gone. They still weren't out of the woods just yet, but they were getting oh so very close. They could almost taste it on their tongues, feel it in their hair. They were nearly vibrating with anticipation. It may have been better if the boys had sat down and made a plan to leave their old lives behind, but they were going to get away from this city before they made the plan. "Okay, I know we have to go in and we can ask for help with where to go, but... are you ready to get out of here?" Tooru asked as he looked towards the bus station. Everyone was carrying big bags and they all seemed to have important lives to be living. At some point, the boy wondered whether or not they would get the chance to look and feel like they were living important lives. It might have happened, but they didn't know what the future had to hold for them.

They didn't care what the future had in store for them, as long as they were together and away from their abusive, neglectful, and pathetic excuses of parents. "I want to get as far away as we can. I know we'll have to save some money for other needs and stuff, but... as far away as we can possibly get would be great," Hajime said quietly.

The pain in Hajime's ankle radiated once he had taken a step, having forgot about his ankle momentarily. Gasping in pain and leaning against Tooru for support, he gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut. This couldn't have been worse. Sure, his family could have done much worse for sure, but right now, right when Hajime and Tooru were trying to get away, he was cursing his father for thinking up this idea of breaking his idea to make him stay put.

"Maybe... I know we need to get out of here, but maybe we should... Do you want to rest for a little while?" Tooru asked as he continued to help Hajime stand, not at all bothered by the fact that Hajime was using him as support right now.

That was when Hajime shook his head and looked up to Tooru, slowly pushing himself upright. "I can rest on the bus... I don't want to stay here any longer than we have to..." Hajime said with a glint of a tear in his eye. It was all of the motions that were building up inside of him again that made the tears start to form. Sure, it had to do with the pain that his ankle was radiating right now as well, but he was starting to see what he had learned in school about emotions and all of that psychology stuff.

When Hajime had said that, Oikawa frowned, but he kept his arm around Hajime to help him. "Okay, we can go find a bus to get on. Come on, Hajime. We don't want to miss our opportunity," he said as the boys slowly walked towards the bus station.

The bustling building and loud, crowded atmosphere were nothing for the boys to be afraid of after everything they had been through. But it was just a new type of experience for both boys. Hajime had been through smaller crowds, but they were all for his school events and he knew what everyone was talking about. When it was in public, it felt a little different. "Wow, this place is big," Hajime said as he looked around.

As he felt Tooru's arm start to pull back a little, though, Hajime stopped and slowly turned to face the boy. There was just something in the boy's eyes and it was hard to read whatever the boy was thinking about at the moment. But Hajime stepped back, not willing to let his support go at the moment. He wasn't ready to let go of Tooru for anything. "It is... There's so much <i> _here_ </i>, Hajime. Wow, I didn't realize there was really so much else to life. I thought that everything we had was... I mean, I knew that there was more, but... i didn't _actually know_  because I hadn't seen all of this before."

It was another moment before Tooru had snapped himself out of the trance. It was just in time, too, because Tooru had nearly let his dazed moment and mind distract him from Hajime, who was nearly about to get run into by a family with large, rolling suitcases. It was just in time that Tooru had pulled Hajime out of the way and against him. Each boy looked at one another and they blinked just a little bit, smiling a bit. They had no idea what being close like this meant, nor did they know that being in love was actually a real thing. But they were starting to discover the feeling all on their own. "Sorry. I didn't hurt your ankle more, did I?" Tooru asked quietly

Shaking his head a bit, Hajime smiled a little wider in return. He didn't realize how nice it would feel to be this close to Tooru. But if he were being completely honest, he could have guessed that this would have happened. He could remember how nice it was when they were close in the shower all those years ago and when they had laid down in bed together. It was nice to keep Tooru close then. "Thank you, Tooru. Can we... Should we go see if we can find a bus to get on?" Hajime asked.

Neither boy wanted to pull away, nor did either boy know what being too PDA meant, or having too much of a public display of affection was. They just didn't care. But they knew they would have to pull away to go buy the bus tickets and so they could get somewhere, instead of just sticking around their same town. Once they had finally pulled away, the two boys had started to look around where they needed to go.

The bus station seemed to be rather full, which was probably because there were a few buses pulling into the station at the moment and letting people off. It would get slower soon, but they had just gone at the bus station's busy hour. As they looked around, Hajime pointed towards a sign that seemed to be something they would want to go towards. "Ready?" Tooru asked quietly as he looked over at Hajime.

"More ready than you can imagine," Hajime said with a bit of a smile again. It felt like they could actually make it this time. It felt like they were really going to get out of there. There was nothing else he could do other than hope and pray that they were actually going to make it out alive. There really was nothing they could do other than keep their heads up and try their best.

As the boys approached a counter, a very serious-looking lady had looked at them and rose an eyebrow to the two of them. "Can I help you?" she asked the pair of boys. This was going to be the moment of truth.

Clearing his throat, Tooru looked towards Hajime before looking back at the lady. "So we've never done this before... But is this where you buy bus tickets?" he asked quietly. The lady apparently thought it was kind of funny that these boys were asking such a question. "Yes, this is where you two can buy bus tickets to anywhere in Japan. Where did you want to go?" she asked quietly.

Hearing the lady speak, Hajime moved a little closer and bit his lip when his ankle started to act up again. "We actually don't know where we want to go, but we know we want to go far away, as far as we can go with the money we have." That was Tooru's queue to pull the money out of his pocket. It was a little wadded up at the moment, but he straightened it out before he handed a portion of the money to the sales lady. He didn't hand it all to her, as Tooru was very familiar with how much food would cost them for a few weeks, as he had been forced to go shopping for his parents on more occasions than he could count or keep track of.

The lady took the money and counted it up, humming a bit. "This can get you pretty far. As far as you want to go. I'm guessing that you boys... you want to leave today, or do you want to wait around for the furthest away we can get you?" she had asked.

This whole situation was a toss up for the boys. They wanted to get as far away as they could possibly get. They wanted to leave and not have a chance of their parents ever finding them. But they also wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, so they didn't have to worry about someone else coming after them. It was such a debate in both of the boy's minds, but that was when Tooru had an idea. "If... If we leave as soon as we can, we can buy the same bus tickets to other places at the next station, right? So we can get further away?"

Hajime felt his chest start to heat up and he was smiling so wide from the idea that Tooru had just said aloud. It really was an incredible thing that Tooru had come up with, so Hajime had so much pride for him at the moment. It wasn't common that Hajime really had these types of feelings. The sensation was an odd one, but it wasn't painful, nor was it a bad one. He guessed that this was what he had learned about having good emotions and how he could potentially experience them.

As another laugh left the lady's lips, she nodded her head. It was as if she was pitying them. She probably was, but it might have been common knowledge that the other bus stations would be able to get them to other places. Tooru and Hajime just weren't aware of said services. "Yes, you'll be able to get elsewhere when you get to the other bus stations I have available for you. We have a bus leaving in a half hour, but it will only take you two hours out of town. If you wanted to wait an hour, I have a bus that will get you nearly ten hours out of town. Further than that, though, you'd have for a day and up to a week."

The two boys exchanged looks. They seemed to be having a private conversation in their heads with one another, as if they were reading each other's minds about the current situation. The thing was, neither of them wanted to get only two hours out of town, but they were also worried that sticking around for any longer would get them into trouble with their parents. It was such a toss up at the moment and they were taking a chance either way they went with this.

Taking a breath and looking back towards the lady that was sat behind the counter, the two boys were just hoping they were thinking the same thing about this whole thing. "We can wait an hour to get nearly ten hours out of town," Tooru said as he looked back at Hajime. Currently, Hajime was thanking the heavens that they had the same thought. If they only went two hours out of town, they could potentially get caught when they got out there. There was still a chance if they got ten hours out of town, but it was highly unlikely at that point.

Typing away at her computer, the lady smiled as she looked at the two boys. "Can I see some identification, boys?" she asked politely.

That had to be one of the biggest hitches in their entire plan, and the two boys looked at one another. Hajime licked his lips and he let his backpack fall from his shoulder and he started to dig around for something in his bag. He knew that all of his school books were left behind, but he was praying that it hadn't all gotten out of the bag. "Come on... be in there..."

It seemed as if their luck was running out, so Tooru frowned a bit. "I don't have any identification. I left it at home, and... I can't go back there. So I guess I'll just have to walk to get out of town," Tooru had said.

Freezing, Hajime looked up at Tooru and he stopped rummaging through his bag. "You are not going to walk. If I'm getting a ride, you're getting one too. Is there any way that we don't have to have ID?" Hajime asked as he looked back at the sales woman.

Humming a bit, the woman had continued to type away on her computer. "If you don't have ID, I'm technically not allowed to sell you bus tickets." That had to be one of the most heartbreaking pieces of news they had heard today. Their heads hung in defeat and they weren't likely to hear any more good news. This was the end of their luck streak, and it went well while it lasted. It just wasn't good enough for either of them.

"I generally don't do this, because I don't like to get in trouble and I don't like taking chances that could come back to bite me later on. Lucky for you two, I'm saying screw it to my bosses today, and I'm going to find a way around this. Let me see... I have a few single passengers... and if I just tweak it to say that they are your guardians..."

There was absolutely no way that either boy had understood what she had just said, but it seemed that with the optimism in her voice still, she was still trying to help them. "So we will be able to get on the bus still?" Tooru asked quietly, a glimmer of hope still in his eyes. Hajime stopped digging in his bag for his school ID. Maybe it was better that Hajime didn't have his school ID, just because he didn't want to lose it along the way and he didn't want to have it traced back to them.

When the lady nodded, both boys perked up very quickly and their smiles seemed to return once again, having hope that they could actually make it out of here. "Alright, I'm just going to print your tickets. The bus is bus 6C and it will be leaving in... exactly an hour from now. There will be announcements in the bus station to signal when the bus is starting to load, and you two will be able to go on your trip. I'm curious, and we're not supposed to ask, but what are two young boys doing out on your own anyway? Won't your parents be worried about you?" she asked.

It seemed like they were getting closer and closer to getting caught, too. Neither boy had prepared a lie for if they were questioned like this, but Hajime had to think of something on the spot. "So... We don't have real parents, um... And we were going to be sent out on the streets eventually, because our foster home wasn't going to keep us for much longer. So we've decided to speed up the process and we just left. I know it's not the right thing to do, but our foster home isn't the safest, either... The floor was so bad that my ankle got all tore up one day because I fell through the wood."

The story seemed to be doing the trick for the lady, and she seemed to be pleased that she had an explanation. Tooru looked at Hajime with wide, concerned eyes. But Hajime gave him a look to just stay quiet, so they could get out of there. "Well, it looks like we're both saying screw it to how things are meant to be, aren't we? Alright, the tickets are all printed. You're free to hang around the bus station, or you can go outside. But just be warned that the bus will leave without you if you're not present."

As the tickets were handed over, Hajime and Tooru looked at one another and had another one of their private conversations. There was no way they were going to venture out into the streets once again to potentially get caught. With Hajime's ankle, it was probably better that he took a seat anyway. "Thank you, ma'am. You've been more help than we can tell you," Tooru had said as he folded up the tickets and put them into his pocket. She handed him back some cash as change and waved them off.

It was absolute luck that the two boys seemed to find the one sales lady that would let this slide and help them escape. It helped that Hajime had given her a completely fake story, but it was still luck that the boys were able to get the tickets at all. "Okay, so we have time and we just have to watch that clock there and stick around here. We should get you sitting down," Tooru said as he helped Hajime walk towards a wall that had a bench. Nobody seemed to be over against that wall.

Once they were seated, Tooru pulled the tickets out of his pocket and unfolded them to look at them. His eyes were so bright and full of life, looking as though this was the best thing to ever happen to him. In reality, it probably was the best thing that had ever happened to him. "Hajime, we're so close. We could really make it out of here..." Tooru had said as he looked back at Hajime and handed him one of the tickets.

Hajime looked over the ticket and it brought a smile to his eyes. "We really could. I want to ask, though... You're okay that you are escaping with me, right?" he asked in a bit of a sad, quiet voice. This was something that had been on his mind lately, and he wasn't sure if it was just the exhaustion speaking, or if he was really worried about this. "You could have just escaped on your own. You didn't have to think about me," Hajime said, although he was more than glad that Tooru had thought enough to think about Hajime as well.

It was actually a bit of a strange thing to hear from Hajime, if he was being honest. They had been best friends for over six years at this point, they had gone through so much together and they were both desperate to get out. So why didn't Hajime think that he was okay with escaping with him? It was a very curious thing to think about. "I couldn't imagine doing this without you, Hajime. I couldn't imagine my life without you in it, so I wouldn't have thought to escape without you." The two boys were talking very quietly, and they were used to having to speak quietly like this as it was. Really, they didn't speak at all when they were having conversations in their rooms and passing notes back and forth, but they were still used to having to speak quietly. Through the years of abuse, the boys had learned the habit to protect themselves.

Hearing Tooru say that, Hajime smiled gently and he looked down to the ticket again. "I couldn't imagine escaping without you, either. If I had gotten a chance to escape in my new house when I moved, I would have come knocking on your window like you came knocking on mine," Hajime said as he looked up to meet Tooru's eyes. They were so full of life and ready to get out of there, but they just had to wait.

Taking a breath, Hajime had to start asking even further questions that were going to seem more and more like reality. But it was something they would have to discuss anyway. "So when we get out to... I don't know where, but when we get out there, we really should probably have a plan so we don't just end up getting caught."

Neither boy exactly had any idea how to make it on their own. This was the only life they had known, and it was the only way they knew how to live. But they had to at least try. They owed it to each other. Thinking, Tooru seemed to put on his thinking face. "Okay, so... I don't know about you, but I think that we'll be hungry and my parents talk all the time about going out to restaurants, so maybe we can go check one of those out? And then we will have to find a place to live. Our money isn't going to be endless, though, so we will have to start looking for jobs. I don't know who is going to hire a runaway, but we will just have to look for jobs so we have more money."

It didn't seem like the worst thing in the world, nor did it seem impossible to achieve. But they were really going to have to think about what they were going to do when they got out there. "We're also going to need a place to live, so we'll have to find a place. Uh... Maybe someone at the next bus station can help us out with that. Hopefully we have enough money, because I know that living isn't cheap," Hajime said as he looked at Tooru with a glint in his eyes. They were finally getting out of there.

Right then, though, sirens started to go off in the building. The boys froze and they looked at one another. Had they been caught? Were they going to be forced to go back? Hajime started to get panicked and he reached for Tooru's hand, going to hold onto it. If they were going to have to go back, he wanted one last touch of Tooru's hand before being separated again. "I love you..." Hajime whispered as he leaned in just a little closer to Tooru, still holding onto the boy's hand.

It was then that a voice happened over the loudspeakers and each boy flinched a bit, Tooru more so than Hajime, as this wasn't a sound he was used to. Hajime had heard loudspeakers at school on multiple occasions. "Attention all passengers. There are two children out and running about at the moment that have gone missing. The police has asked us to keep your ears listening for anyone who seems suspicious or watch out for a boy with brown, wavy hair, and another boy with black and spiked hair. Thank you very much." The loudspeaker went off and the boys went tense.

Obviously, those were the descriptions of Tooru and Hajime and their parents had discovered that they had escaped again. This was not a very pleasant experience to be going through, but nobody at the bus station seemed to be looking their way, or they really just didn't care that the two boys that matched that description were sitting against the wall on a bench. Even though they seemed to luck out again, it didn't change their minds about the fact that they were starting to dread how this would turn out for them. "If we just sit here, do you think everyone will forget and not pay us any attention?" Tooru asked quietly and in a timid voice.

At that moment, that was exactly what Hajime was thinking and hoping. "We just have to wait another half hour before we can get on the bus and then we can get out of here," Hajime said and he squeezed onto Tooru's hand.

Both boys were waiting patiently, but they wished time would move faster. They were waiting tor something over the loudspeaker to say that their bus was ready and available to be loaded. That was when luck had gone their way and the loudspeaker went off again, announcing that the bus 6C was about to start loading. Tooru stood up and gave Hajime a brilliant grin. "We're so close, Hajime. I never thought that this was ever going to happen, but here we are..."

It was the truth. They were both there and the boys were beyond ready to get out of there for once. They had been trapped and had gone through more than enough in their sad, excuses of life, to justify being ready to leave already. There was no way that the boys were missing out on their chance this time around.

Time continued to pass when an announcement came across the loudspeaker again. Both boys had still flinched, as they still were conditioned to do so through the lives they had lived. "Ready to get out of here? Oh! How long has it been? It's been more than four hours, so you should be able to take more of the pain medication," Tooru said as he pulled his bag around.

That was when Hajime shook his head and started to push himself up. "I can take more when we are on the bus. Let's get there first, okay?" Hajime said. Tooru didn't need to be told twice. He zipped his bag back up and he reached to help Hajime once more. The boys were standing close to one another, holding arms, and they started to follow the crowds of people that were headed towards the bus. 

The person taking the tickets had looked at the two boys with a raised eyebrow. "You two... fit the description of the two boys that they are looking for. What are your names?"

Feeling another chill go up their spines, they had to act as normal as possible. "Well what does the name say on the tickets? We couldn't possibly be those two boys," Tooru said with a faked laugh. It was a wonder that the boy had been such a talent at faking his emotions and his parents hadn't noticed it. They could have exploited their son even further and used his talent for acting things. Hajime had noticed this, but he couldn't focus on it right now.

Once the guard looked down at the ticket, he looked back up. "The names aren't printed on here because it says you are minors. Your parents have to be around for this to happen, though, so you two are good." The man handed back their halves of the tickets and the boys climbed onto the bus. Hajime went first, and he went slowly, but Tooru wanted to be behind him just in case he fell.

Luckily, the two boys hadn't fallen. They took a seat on the bus, sitting next to one another and feeling their anxieties continuing to spike. Was this really, truly happening? Were they finally going to get out of there? Tooru's legs were bouncing as he looked out the window, as Hajime had let him in first, because if he had to use the bathroom, it would be easier that way. "Oh! The pills. Here," Tooru had gone through and pulled the pill bottle out of his bag, then he grabbed the bottle of water.

Thankfully enough, the pills were easy enough to take. Hajime wasn't aware that he was supposed to eat while taking pain pills of this kind, as he had never been given pain pills before. He could feel his stomach starting to churn, but he really wasn't too terribly concerned. At least the pills were helping the pain in his ankle. He wasn't aware that he shouldn't be walking around on a broken ankle and it would mess him up for a long while, but they couldn't think about that right now. All they could think about was the fact that the bus was loading up with people and they were ready to get out of there.

But when the bus was loaded completely, a set of police officers had gotten on the bus and started to look around. "We just want to be positive the kids aren't here. We know that you have policies, but you never know with how kids can manipulate things," the man said as he started to look over the passengers.

When the police officers had looked over Hajime and Tooru, who had taken a breath and held it inside, Hajime hit Tooru's arm a bit and he had to at least act like a normal child. "Show some respect," he said through gritted teeth. Tooru had finally looked towards the police officers and he gave a sheepish smile.

"Hmm... They're not here, let's go check out the rest of the station. Maybe they have pictures for us finally." the officer had said as he started to step off with his other officer. Held breaths were released and both boys were beyond thankful that they had gotten out of this nightmare once and for all. What else could possibly happen?

Nearly time for the bus to leave, both boys were nearly vibrating with anticipation. "We can make it... Just a few minutes longer..." Hajime said as he looked towards the front of the bus. Right then, the doors of the bus had closed and each boy felt a tad more excitement course through them.

The bus driver had started to go through their itinerary and stated that they were going to stop once for a late night snack, and a couple other times to refuel the bus. But other than that, there were no stops. Hajime and Tooru were already told about the bathroom on the bus, so they would only go out of the bus when they were hungry enough and needed food. "Enjoy your trip. Movies will be playing on the screens around the bus, they will all be rated G or PG, as we do have some children on the bus. Please stay seated and safe travels."

The driver had gone to sit back down and Tooru looked at Hajime, who was nearly vibrating in his seat. They didn't say anything to one another, but they shared a look, and the two boys had reached for each other's hand, holding onto it. "We've made it... I love you so much." Tooru said, the tears pricking into his eyes. He wasn't alone, though, as Hajime had to use his free hand to wipe the tears away from his own face.

"I love you too, Tooru... We really did make it..."

Once the bus had started to move, both boys were cheering excitedly and very quietly. They finally felt like they could lean back into their chairs and relax, because there was no way that this could fail any longer. The two boys chatted about what they wanted to do, where they wanted to go, how they wanted to live and all of that until they had fallen asleep in their chairs.

They had woken up to go get food when everyone else was and they brought back snacks that they had always wanted to try. After that, though, they went back to holding hands and they fell back asleep. Tooru had his head against Hajime's shoulder and the two boys wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

As the bus pulled into the next station, the boys yawned and woke themselves up, blinking a bit. "This isn't a dream, is it?" Hajime asked with another yawn. "We really did it? We really made it out alive?"

Nodding and squeezing his hand, Tooru smiled as he yawned in response. "We really did it. Hajime... they can't get to us anymore. We're free..."

The two boys still had a long way to go in order to be totally content and happy with their lives, but at the very least, it seemed as if the worst part was over, and there was no longer space between the two. There were no walls, and neither boy wanted there to be a wall between them ever again. Hopefully, they would find a way to make that happen. They wouldn't spend another minute apart ever again. At least, that was what they thought when they had made the trip.

As they stepped out onto the pavement and stepped aside to let others by, the started to examine their surroundings. It looked nothing like their home town, and for that, they were grateful.

"Are you ready?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I wanted to leave the fic ending a bit on the open side, as there is absolutely going to be a second fic to this series. That's why I've created the IwaOi experience series, as I want to write more adventures for these two. It may not start for a little while longer, as I have many more projects to focus on right now, but I can tell you that this is not the end. Thank you so much for reading, everyone!


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